When One Door Closes
by Aquaqua
Summary: Lise and Nico were just two normal twins living in New York. Well, as normal as two adopted kids could get. At least, they thought they were normal, until their parents die, and they face discoveries that they had never even imagined before, involving a boarding school, and a weird man who claims they're the children of countries. Warnings: Past and Future Mpreg.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: Okay, so I have been OBSESSED with Hetalia lately. I had this idea ever since I watched the first few clips of Hetalia off of freaking YOUTUBE. I adore Hetalia, but I'm too new to the fandom to be considered an expert. So, if you see any continuity errors, or any character is OOC, then don't hesitate to tell me, so long as you do it nicely.**

**By the way, this story is written in the form of a video recording, like in that Rick Riordan book, the Kane Chronicles. [If you see words surrounded by brackets like this, they're background noise that wasn't meant to be there.] Confusing, I know. You'll get the hang of it soon enough. Now, on with the story!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Hetalia. I only own Lise, Nico, Joan, Lanie, and their parents.**

Now listen to me very carefully.

No, not enough. Listen even more carefully. I won't repeat this again, just in case _he _hears us.

Okay, my dorky sister is telling me to shut up and get on with the recording, but I think I should tell you the reason why the heck you have this recording in your possession in the first place.

[Ugh, Nico! We only have a little while to do this!]

[I know, Lise, but they deserve to know!]

Sorry about that. Let me introduce myself. I'm Nico, and that little ditz who you're constantly hearing is my twin sister, Lise. But, anyway, as for the story, I _know_ I'll have to start at the beginning. That's where all stories start, right? The thing is, I don't quite know what that beginning _is._

I guess I should start at the day when New York showed up at my school, and took us to the Academy, where you'll wind up soon.

You _need_ to get to the Academy, because you have strange blood. If you don't—

[May God have mercy on your soul.]

I think Lise just summed it up pretty well.

Anyway, our story begins in an apartment in New York. It was the school day before Christmas, and Lise and I were getting ready for our last day of school before winter break by helping our little sisters, 10-year-old Joan and 6-year-old Lanie, get ready for school. Lise was stuffing sandwiches in the girls' lunch bags, and I was sitting at the kitchen table with Joan peering over my shoulder as I checked her homework.

"You did the addition before you multiplied. It's supposed to be the other way around, Joanie.""

"Dang it! Give it back, Nico! I have to fix it! God, I can't believe I missed that!"

"Don't take the Lord's name in vain, Joan Agnes Stoker!" Lise scolded from the kitchen. "You were named after two of His saints; treat His name with respect."

Joan and I both rolled our eyes. "I swear, Lise, you are the most religious 13-year-old in all of New York! All of America, maybe!"

Lise glared at us, and she handed Lanie her lunch, saying, "Here you go, Lan. Come on, Joan, I've got yours, too."

Joan snatched the lunch out of Lise's hand, and grabbed Lanie's hand. "Come on, Lanie. We're gonna miss the subway!"

"Don't forget to get Amy and her mom before you leave the apartment!" Lise yelled.

"We will; we're not stupid!" Joan yelled. "Come on, Lanie."

Lanie nodded, and left with Joan.

Lise sighed, and slumped on our couch. She closed her eyes, and let her head fall back. A quick slap to said head woke her up pretty fast.

"Come on, Lise, we need to be at school in fifteen minutes, and there's still the subway ride to deal with! You don't have time to rest!"

I was answered by a pillow to the face. Thankfully, though, Lise grabbed her book bag from the hook on the wall, and began to stuff it full of her textbooks, and the homework I know she hasn't done. She grabbed her almost-full writing notebook, and held it in her arms like a priceless document.

"Come on, Nick, don't leave _me_ waiting, for once!" she teased me.

I yanked my twin's shirt, which caused her to cry out in surprise. Then, ignoring her curses and her calling me an "incestuous pervert," I grabbed my backpack, and smiled at her.

"Well, come on!" I yelled, already heading for the door.

"Wait!" Lise cried. She pulled open Mom and Dad's door, and yelled. "Bye, Mom! Bye, Dad! Nico and I both love you!"

I huffed, and grabbed Lise's arm, and headed for the door. The last thing I heard before the doors closed was, "We love you too, sweeties!"

I didn't know it at the time, but that was the last time I would hear my parents' voices again.


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: Okay, people, let me just tell you that I am no longer writing this story alone! A good bit of this story is also going to be written by my good friend, Ninjacookie19 (look her up on deviantart!) HI, NINJA! *waves like an idiot*.**

**Anyway, I do not own Hetalia. I only own Mrs. Edwards, Nico, Lise, Principal Morrison, and New York!**

I crossed my arms, and tried to listen to Mrs. Edwards droning on and on and on. Seriously, the woman could make freaking _Pearl Harbor _sound boring!

"And so…" Pause, "…the Hawaiian military base…" Drone, "Pearl Harbor…was attacked…by the Japanese…in December of 1941…"

That was when I started to zone out. Screw Harvard; this is boring! I risked a look behind me at Lise, who had long since fallen asleep. Her blonde hair spilled over her desk as she drooled on her textbook. The fan blew the curl at the end of her long ponytail back and forth.

I clenched my fists in frustration. It wasn't fair that she sat in the back where Mrs. Edwards barely ever paid any attention, and I was stuck in the middle, where Mrs. Edwards, in her quest to be "fair," called on the most.

[Yes, I KNOW that you couldn't help it, Lise! Now stop whining!]

Doesn't help that I'm one of the smartest kids in the class, either. (Thank you, Mr. and Mrs. We-Want-Our-Children-To-Get-Academic-Scholarships-To-Harvard, aka, Mom and Dad.)

[NICO! Don't you DARE talk about Mom and Dad like that!]

[S-Sorry, sorry!]

"Well, Nico?"

I looked up in surprise. "I-I'm sorry, ma'am. What did you say?"

Mrs. Edwards gave an exasperated huff and said, "I asked what the Allies and Axis were, Nico."

I felt my mind go blank. Axis, Allies? What were they? I knew America was part of one of them , along with England, and Germany was in the other, but I knew zip other than that! I mentally licked myself for spacing out.

"Um…Germany was in…the Allies, right? And—"

Giggles and snickers told me I was very wrong indeed.

Mrs. Edwards gave me a sad look, like, "You're my bast student; where did I go wrong?"

"Sorry, Nico," she said. "Anyone else want to try—Oh, yes, Peter?'

That weird boy, Peter Kirkland, had his hand in the air. I didn't know him personally; I sometimes remember making fun of his British accent and sailor costume, and getting a smile and a laugh out of him, mostly when the jokes I told about him weren't funny at all. Again, Peter was weird like that.

Anyway, he answered with, "The Axis was the group America was fighting against, containing the countries of Germany, Italy, and Japan. The Allies were the countries fighting against the Axis, containing America, Great Britain, France, the Soviet Union, and China."

Mrs. Edwards beamed at Peter, and said, "That's correct, Peter. How did you know the countries? I don't that that we got to that yet."

Peter hesitated for a moment, like he was afraid to answer. Then, his ever-present smile came back on his face, and said, "My big brother, Arthur, is really into British history! His stories on World War 2 are so vivid, you'd think that he was there himself!" I watched him closely. I could see that he was lying; I've watched Joan enough times. His eyes were shifty, and he kept shuffling in his chair

_Cheater, _I mercilessly thought at him. _Stupid kiss up._

[_NICO!_]

[I'm SORRY, Lise! I didn't KNOW him then!]

Mrs. Edwards then turned on me. "Okay, Nico, after that blurb, I would like it if you reread the section." Then she seemed to get an idea. "In fact, I want all of you to learn the names of the countries in the Allies and Axis, and their leaders at the time. We will be having a quiz on this on Friday, so start studying!"

Groaning, moaning, and insults to Peter followed. Nothing unusual.

I was just starting to get into Hitler's rise to power when the intercom turned on.

"_Will Lise and Nico Stoker, and Peter Kirkland please report to the principal's office?"_ While part of me worried that I did something wrong, another part of me thanked my lucky stars that Mrs. Jamison called Lise and me by our nicknames. Lise's first name was okay. (Well, I admit it, her name was actually really pretty.)

[OW! Lise, what the heck?]

My first name, however, was the ugliest name I had ever heard of. That was the reason I went by my middle name, Nico. There was no way in HECK that anyone would name a kid born in 1998 something like that unless they were named after somebody. That was the reason I wasn't surprised to find out I was named after my birth father. "Famous Warrior" my foot.

Anyway, Peter and I both looked at Mrs. Edwards, who nodded. Peter immediately headed for the door, leaving me the task of waking up Lise (a jab in the back of the neck with a pencil eraser), which earned us a dirty look from Mrs. Edwards.

We walked down the hallway, with Peter a few yards in front of us. "What did you _do _to him?" Lise hissed at me.

"I didn't do anything! Well, I _did_ make fun of him once, but—"

"I knew it! You bullied him, and I'm being pinned as your accomplice because I'm your twin! This sucks!"

I laughed at her. "Aren't Christians supposed to have clean mouths?" I was interrupted by a smack in the face. "And be pacifists?" I asked again (not the smartest thing I've done, I admit).

She ignored me, and walked up to Peter, and said, "Hey, Peter! Do you have any idea why we're being taken to the principal's office? Like, what'd ya do? Turn Nico in for bullying or something?"

He turned to look at me. "That was you?" His face broke into a grin. "Nope! It's all over and forgotten! It was actually quite funny, what you said!" He turned, and started talking to Lise again.

"…I called you a gay sailor," I whispered lamely, trying to ignore the guilt that was seeping into me.

When we entered the front office, Peter spoke to Mrs. Jamison. "Hi, there! I'm Peter Kirkland, and these are the Stoker twins!"

Mrs. Jamison looked at us with glazed, exhausted eyes full of—holy crap—pity. "Of course," she smiled. "Down the hall to the right."

We nodded, and entered the principal's office. Principal Morrison was looking prim and proper, as usual, with her neatly ironed dress and stupid bun. In front of her was a man in a suit with a briefcase. He gave us the fake grin Mrs. Jamison gave us, and I knew something was up when the man (Mr. Lucas) shooed Principal Morrison out of her own office, and said these three words. "I'm sorry."

You know the feeling of when you're going through something so terrible, something you _know _you _should _be screaming and crying at, but you don't? Because it doesn't seem real? That's what it was like for me.

I barely even heard about what happened. Even now, months later, I still don't know all the details. I just remember little words here and there. "Your mother and father…Crosswalk…Drunk driver…Car…Hit…Broken necks…No pain…Passed away."

[No, Lise, I'm not crying! I've just got something in my eye, that's all…I'm not…crying…Oh…you are, too? Well, it's okay. Hold my hand.]

Lise, oh crap, she was like a fountain. Tears ran down her face by the gallons, and she kept screaming things like, "You're lying!" Lucky little…

Eventually I wrapped my arms around her as she twined her little wooden rosary (from our birth mother) around her fingers and murmured prayers under her breath.

"So, I guess that means we'll be moved to a relative's, right? Joan and Lanie adore all of them, so I guess that's alright," I murmured.

Mr. Lucas shook his head. "Your sisters will be moved to your aunt's." Good. Joan and Lanie loved Aunt Lucy. "You, however, have a very different destination, according to your parents' will."

At this, he opened his briefcase and pulled out a manila envelope, from which he pulled out a piece of paper saying, "The Last Will and Testament of Craig Stoker." Dad…

"'If, God forbid, anything should happen to us, Karen and I would like to keep our children as far away from foster homes as possible. Our two youngest, Joan Agnes, and Alana Eden, are to go to Karen's sister, Lucinda. However, our two beloved twins, Lise and Nico, will go to a year-round boarding school called the International Academy. There are some things about Lise and Nico that Karen and I don't understand, but we do know that this is the right place for them,'" Mr. Lucas read.

"That's it?" Lise whispered, her voice hoarse.

Mr. Lucas solemnly nodded his head. "The rest don't concern you; it's just about where their money and property will go."

You mean money. I knew exactly where their property will go: their belongings snapped up by the first relatives to get their hands on them, and the rest by the ones who pay the most. Our three-bedroom apartment, Lise's and my home for thirteen years, to the first person to rent. It's just not fair…

"What's this go to do with him?" Lise asked, pointing to Peter. I started. I had almost forgotten he was there. Instead of his stupid grin, he was staring at us with pity in his eyes. Ugh. Shutupshutupshutup.

"I…I was sent to this school in New York to watch out for you," he said, his voice barely above a whisper. (How unlike him… [OW!]) "I knew you were special, and the International Academy are for special people, like you."

"Special people?" I murmured. "What's so special about us? We're just two normal kids."

"Dear boy, you are far from normal," Mr. Lucas said, that half-smile saying I was supposed to take it as a compliment. "Do you know the circumstances of you and your sister's births?"

I winced. Here's something I think you should have known before: Lise and I were adopted. Abandoned to Social Services by two jerks who probably never loved us in the first place.

"I have a drawing our mother did of us hanging on the wall of our room." Unfortunately, true. "And I know that Lise and I were named after them." Again, unfortunately, true.

Peter looked at Mr. Lucas. "Excuse me, sir, but there is too much to explain and not enough time. You can tell them once we get to the Academy."

Mr. Lucas's eyes widened. He checked his watch. "Goodness, Peter, you're right! Come on, the gates'll close if you don't get back to the Academy by nightfall!"

We didn't even have time to react as we were shepherded outside of the school into a black Cadillac.

Once we were out of the school, I asked Mr. Lucas, "Um, sir, no offense, but who are you?"

He looked at me through the rear-view mirror, and flashed me a grin. "Well, since you asked nicely, I'll tell you. To my friends, I'm Jake Lucas. To my co-workers, I'm New York. I'm the headmaster of the International Academy."

I turned to Lise, who didn't make any reaction. I guess it was good that we met our headmas—

Wait a second.

_New York?_


	3. Chapter 3

It took all of my willpower not to bombard Mr. Lucas with the questions that filled my head. The first that reached my mouth was, "So, what do you want us to call you? Like, Jake, Mr. Lucas, What?"

Peter piped up, "All nations and territories are called by their land's name! " He looked at the glaring New York. "But…let him answer that question himself!"

New York sighed. "Well, most of the children at the school call me Mr. Lucas, if it feels normal to you."

Lise coughed gently. "What do you mean you're New York? I mean, do you work for the government, or something? Like as a spokesperson for New York or something?"

I let out a sigh. Of course this had a rational explanation to it. I mean, he couldn't be over 300 years old! All of those movies must've gotten to my head!

[Shut up on the comments, Lise!]

New York, for the first time, turned serious. No pitying frown, no smirk, just serious. Peter tensed up. I knew there was something up. "Well, um, you are half right, Lise. I do work for the government. You _could_ say that I am a spokesperson for New York. But, I think that the most accurate term is that I am the personification of New York."

Us men jumped as Lise began to cackle loudly. And scarily, like she was crazy. "Y-Y-You're joking! You can't be the personification of New York, you would have to be over 200 years old! And there's no way God will make someone immortal!"

I watched in horror as Lise had tears running down her cheeks, her crazed grin still sickeningly plastered onto her face. I wrapped my arms around her as her laughs changed into sobs. Perer placed a hand on her shoulder awkwardly.

"I-its just not fair," Lise murmured. "There are immortal people, and Mom and Dad died so young…"

I stroked her hair and whispered, "I know."

I looked her in the eyes and asked, "Are you okay if I asked a few more questions?" She nodded weakly. I looked at Peter. (I didn't really trust New York's driving, in all honesty.) and asked, "What does he mean, Personification?"

Peter sighed, and said, "Whenever there is a nation, there is a person who is the personification of said nation. They contain the memories of their nation, and they survive as long as their countries do. They are very respected among their government leaders."

I looked up at the driver's seat.

"So you're New York?" He turned, and flashed me a grin (which made me clutch Lise's hand with terror in fear that his eyes were off the road).

"Yup! I've got 49 brothers and sisters; can you imagine what that is like?"

I admitted I couldn't.

"So…Your father is America?"

"Yep! Well, we're not related by blood, we're found the same way all nations are found."

"How?"

"He found us wandering through the wilderness, duh!"

This shut me up pretty quick, with Peter laughing and even Lise managing a tiny giggle.

"So, are all nations infertile then? That's why all of the nations are found in the wilderness?" I asked. Peter glanced at me, then at New York.

"Are you sure we should tell them now, Jake?" I heard a sigh as New York thought over what to say.

"It's now or never , I guess, Peter. I am required to go over this with every new student. Nico, the answer is no, nations can have children naturally. In fact, they are even more fertile than normal humans, because the majority of the nation population is male."

"You mean m-preg?" I heard Lise chuckle.

New York laughed.

"Yep, pretty much. Anyway, the school you're going to is for kids with a country's blood in their veins." Lise stiffened.

"But, we don't have any family members who are countries-right?" I patted her shoulder.

"But, we were adopted, remember, Lise?"

"W-we were born in new York." I looked over at the New York, waiting for the answer.

All New York could say was, "Countries have free reign over their allies lands. They can impregnate any women they want."

I shook my head. "Please, I'd rather not think about it. So, basically, my parents could be any ally of America?"

"Exactly."

Lise sighed, and looked up at me. "I normally wouldn't be asking this Nico, But mind if I lay down? Today has been too much." I nodded. She lay her head in my lap and was out like a light.

I looked at Peter, and whispered, "What do you have to do with all of this?" He smiled.

"I was sent to your school to look out for you. America found out about you, and he realized that you two were special. He told me to keep an eye on you."

"So are you a human, or a nation?"

"I'm a nation!"

"A nation? What nation…"

"I'm Sealand, the world's smallest country!"

"I thought that was Vatican City…"

"That's a lie! Sealand is the smallest!"

"I've never heard of it."

"Aw, come on! Isn't it enough that I'm not recognized as a country by other nations?"

I couldn't answer. I was too busy laughing.


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4! Yay! Okay, thank you SO MUCH to Cactus Luv and xxDarkangelx for the kind reviews! It's people like you who keep this story alive!**

**Disclaimer: I own no one you recognize.**

Good news: After who knows how long of terror and nausea brought on by New York's horrifying driving skills, we finally slowed down.

Bad news: We were in the middle of freaking _nowhere._

We were driving slowly down an old dirt country road. (I thanked my lucky stars that Lise was asleep.)

[Shut up, Lise; everyone knows you have a stomach of Jell-O! Don't deny it!]

It was really slow-going. The bumps made me feel like I was jumping around. Ugh…what happened to the paved roads in New York City?

Almost as if he read my mind, New York explained, "The Academy is supposed to be out in the middle of nowhere. You wouldn't find a top-secret government school for the children of countries that terrorists might capture and hold for ransom in the middle of Manhattan, would you?"

Sealand and I laughed, and I tried to ignore the statement about the terrorists. It was just a joke, right?

I was so caught up in my thoughts I didn't notice when New York called out cheerily, "Here we a~are!" in a singsong-y voice.

I craned my neck, expecting to see all these stuff you'd think about in a year-round boarding school, you know, huge gates to keep pedos out, mile-long brick driveways. But, I saw nothing. Nada. Zip. Wait, there was something.

In front of us was a small cherry tree. It had light pink petals all over its branches, which was weird, because it was winter in New England. (I gave up long ago trying to keep track of our location; all I know was that we didn't travel far enough to be out of New England.)

Anyway, we slowed to a stop in front of the cherry tree. I opened my mouth to ask, "Wha-?"

I was interrupted by New York shouting out, "I, Jacob Lucas, embodiment of New York State, give these newcomers permission to enter the International Academy!"

I didn't quite know what I expected: a force field magically breaking down, or at least something like a guard coming out, but nothing happened. As if New York just shouted that out because he wanted to.

He turned to Lise, Sealand, and me, and said, "This is where you three get out."

Lise jumped in shock so high, her head hit the roof of the car with a sickening _smack. _"WHAT!"

"We're in the middle of nowhere!" I chimed in.

New York ignored us. He turned to Sealand, and asked, "You know how to get there, don't you? You sure you've escorted students there before?"

"Hah! Only a million times! Come on, Lise, Nico, let's go!" He grabbed Lise by the wrist and yanked her out of the car, leaving me little choice but to follow.

No sooner did I slam the car door than New York takes off with a fleeting call of, "Have a nice stay!" as if we were being checked in to some hotel.

I glowered at Sealand. "_That's _the headmaster?"

He shrugged. "Yeah. He's always like this. Can't wait to lock himself in his dormitory with his video games is all."

I decided against asking any more questions. Thankfully, Lise took away my need to. "Are we going to this school, or not?"

Sealand glared at her. "I was _going _to, Lise!" He walked ahead of us, into the woods. Lise and I looked at each other for a moment, and followed him, yelling, "Hey, Sealand/Peter! Wait up!"

It took us somewhere between five and ten minutes to get completely lost. We were still lost two hours later.

"P-Peter, h-how much l-longer before we g-get t-to the sc-school?" Lise shivered. I honestly felt bad for her. At least I had the time to grab my gloves and jacket as we left the classroom. Lise had no such luck.

"Not long, I hope," Sealand murmured. The last half of the sentence was much more hushed and whispered, I noticed.

"You're joking…we passed that cherry tree three times already," I murmured. _"Mein Gott_, are you really this dense?"

Sealand just stared at me. "Nico, you do know you just spoke German?"

I blushed, and stared at the ground. "Um…Mom and Dad taught me German before they died," I lied. The truth was, I didn't know where I learned it. I just _knew. _Sometimes (meaning most of the time) I didn't even know I wasn't speaking English. Our parents got their share of awkward phone calls from our preschool, when the teachers caught Lise and me screaming at each other in German, Italian, French, and I think at one time, Slovene.

Anyway, Sealand kept staring at me. "You know, if a child has the blood of a nation in their veins, they're able to speak their languages without being taught? You know, you could be children of a German-speaking country, maybe Austria—"

That was when we were cut off by a voice. "Where the bloody hell have you _been, _Peter? We've been looking all over for you!" Out of the shadows stepped a kid. He looked like a normal teenager, maybe a year older than Lise and me. His blond hair was stuffed into a Yankees cap, which matched his jacket. The only odd things about him: he spoke with a British accent similar to Sealand's, and around his neck he wore a Wicca symbol, you know, the star in the circle?

Anyway, Sealand put a hand behind his head, and sweatdropped. "Nice to see you, too, Jonesy!"

Jonesy rolled his eyes at Sealand, and turned to us. "Hullo. You must be the new students we were expecting. What're your names?"

I swallowed, and told Jonesy, "I'm Nico Stoker. This is my sister, Lise."

He flashed us a grin, and held out his hand. "Nice to meet you! I'm Jonesy Kirkland, child of Britain! Come on, we don't have all day! There are kids _dying _to meet you!"

**Okay, we're done! Oh, and, for fun, try to guess who Nico and Lise's parent(s) are! Sadly, you won't get anything in return, but you WILL feel triumph if you turn out to be right when it's finally revealed! Anyway, peace out, yo! Aquaqua OUT!**


	5. Chapter 5

After about five minutes of walking through the woods, Jonesy pulled something out of his pocket: a walky-talky.

"Yo, Jake, we're just about to come in."

"_Finally! What took you so long?"_

"Peter, the bloody idiot, got 'em lost. I found them walking in completely the wrong direction! Honestly, Jake, why can't you pull him from directing? He's been here since even _I _came here, and he _still_ can't navigate the woods! A kid of Austria would have better luck, and that's saying something!"

"Hey!" Sealand yelled. "Treat me nicely; I _am_ your uncle!"

Now, I guess normally when I heard of Sealand being Jonesy's _uncle, _I would've been shocked, but I'd had enough surprises to last me that day, I guess.

But, still, I wondered what it would be like to have a nephew that looked your age, or maybe a bit older.

[Ask Josie Duggar.]

[Shut up, Lise.]

Anyway, Jonesy sighed, and clicked off the walky-talky. "Well," he said, "I guess you're tired and hungry from your trip here! Come on. Don't drag your feet, Lise; that looks unladylike!"

Lise groaned, and started to walk like an actual human being. "What is he, Dad?" she whispered in my ear.

"I heard that, and I am older than the both of you. I do give my sincere condolences to your loss, both of you, but I do not like to be treated in such a way." He glared at Lise. "And I was only trying to make you look presentable. First impressions are huge at the Academy; you don't want to humiliate your parent! O-or parents, I mean. What's your last name?"

"Stoker," Lise said numbly, ignoring the thinly-veiled insult.

"Hrm. There aren't any countries with that last name, so perhaps you could be an illegitimate. France has several."

My face blazed. "But we were adopted!" I hissed.

Jonesy thought a moment. "Then that brings us down to zero again." He smirked at me. Then the smirk fell away. "No way," he muttered. "You look like—"

"There you are!" a voice yelled. "Come on in!" Lise screamed and I couldn't help but jump.

Jonsey glared. "Look what you did, Jake! You scared 'em!"

_Oh, _I thought. _It's New York._

But the man in front of us was a very _different_ New York. Gone was the suit and tie, the briefcase. All of these were replaced by a Yankees hat identical to Jonesy's, an "I Heart New York" tee, baggy jeans, and ratty converse sneakers. It hit me that this guy didn't look old enough to _vote, _much less run an entire school for potential hostage victims.

Jonesy pointed. "I suppose you know my relative, New York, am I correct?"

"Yes," Lise and I said in unison.

"Well, what're you waiting for?" New York asked. Dang, the guy even _sounded _more immature now. "We need to get you to your new home! Here we are!"

He pointed, and I saw an old abandoned building.

"Used to be an orphanage," New York said, "but once the woods overgrew, this place was abandoned. But, when my little brother, William, was born, the American government let us use this to educate the nationlings! Cool, right?"

I watched as Jonesy's expression changed the moment New York said, "William." There was something odd about that…

"Are you related to William?" I asked Jonesy. Stupid move, I know, but I tend to make swift decisions without thinking when I'm stressed.

Jonsey glared at me, and said, "Yes, he's my brother. William Kirkland. He's the personification of America."

He was quiet after that, and I got the feeling that I was walking on a minefield when I got into this conversation. New York was quiet, as well. Then, he shouted out, "Oh, crap, look! The sun's setting! Let's go inside and get warm, kay?"

He dragged Lise and me by our arms, and opened the door.

I was immediately bombarded with voices.

"Look, guys!"

"They're back!"

"They have new students!"

Finally, someone said the weirdest thing of all.

"Who's that boy with the brown hair? He looks just like Roman Empire!"

_Roman Empire…?_

**Okay, people, guess now who the parents of Lise and Nico are, now that you have this little clue about who Nico looks like!**


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N: Guess what, people? This is the first chapter that has been blessed by my good friend, Ninjacookie19! (Check out her DA account!) I know what you're gonna ask: "But Aquaqua, how do we know which part was written by Ninjacookie? Well, I'll tell you. Ninja did the non-crappy part.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Hetalia. Any character you do not recognize, I own.**

"Hush, Aadi!" a voice hissed. A blond boy walked in front of us. To be honest, I mistook him for a girl. What? He had shoulder-length blond hair pulled back into a ponytail. He nodded at us. "_Bonjour." _He said in a French accent, "I do hope you excuse my half-sister, Aadi. I am Jean Bonnefoy, son of France. Welcome to the International Academy."

He shook my hand, and then turned to Lise, who was visibly blushing. Jean grabbed her hand gently.

"Well, hello, _Mademoiselle—" _

He was then cut off by Jonesy. "Don't you French have anything better to do than to flirt with every other student?"

"Well, it's not like the British can get a date…"

"Well, at least I'm not a cheese-sniffing money!"

Jonesy and Jean began to banter back and forth, until Jean began to insult her in French. Jonesy sighed. "Come on, you guys. Let's go to your dorm. The meet-and-greet is over." He then grabbed our hands and led us behind the huge building. Tucked behind was an even larger one, with a central plaza where even more students were milling about. Some more kids began to gather around us, yelling greetings, and some were even placing bets on who our parents were.

"Definitely Austria's! I put five dollars on Austria!"

"You idiot, that kid's obviously Hungarian!"

"Maybe both, then."

Jonesy rolled her eyes at this, and led us behind this building, showing us seven large rectangular buildings.

Jonesy motioned to them.

"These are our dorms, representing the seven continents. Each level of each building represents a different country. The first floor of each one serves ethnic food from that continent," said Jonesy, almost mechanically. He then turned to us. "What're you guys in the mood for?"

Lise jumped up and raised her arms. "_PASSTAA_!"

I turned to Jonesy. "Um…she's kind of obsessed with pasta."

Jonsey was still staring. **(A/N: Basically Jonesy: O.O) **"Um…Europe is that way." He pointed to the farthest building.

Lise was off like a rocket. Usually she couldn't move; unless there was pasta, she would just fall asleep. Jonesy and I followed behind her slowly.

I turned to Jonesy. "What was that back there with Jean?" I asked.

He laughed. "Don't you know? Britain has almost always been perpetually at war with France. We English and French just don't get along too well. Bloody annoying gits," he then muttered.

We then reached the Europe building. It was HUGE. It seemed to keep going up and up and UP! I almost stumbled over trying to crane my neck to see all of it. I stumbled through the door, and I was met with a scene of chaos. There seemed to be hundreds of kids running around, talking, eating, laughing and basically anything at all.

It was going to be a pain to find Lise in this crowd.

"Well, I'm going to get some food," said Jonesy. He then began to make his way to a large buffet.

Without him, I felt so lost. I then began wandering around, trying to find my sister. I passed a table of kids speaking in Russian. Either that, or they were gargling on rocks. I passed by another table, this one filled with kids who looked like Jean, one of which was making out with a surprised-looking brown-haired girl with a mole on her lip.

After passing this strange scene, I found Lise sitting at a table, with a brown-haired lazy-looking boy, who was talking fast, sometimes throwing in random Spanish words. Their plates were both piled high with pasta, which Lise was quickly shoveling into her face like there was no tomorrow.

"Uh…Lise?" I said.

The Spanish kid stopped speaking.

"_Hola! Deves ser el hermano de ella."_

"What?"

He gave a little laugh. "Ah! Excuse me, I said, you must be her brother."

I was about to speak, but he cut me off. "Never mind. I can see the resemblance. So you guys are the new kids, right?"

"Uh, yes, I—"

"Yeah, you guys look like newbies. So, are you gonna get any food or what? That pasta's really good today."

Lise vigorously nodded to this, disrupting the flow of pasta to her mouth.

"Well, I—"

"Oh, I didn't introduce myself! I am Carlos, son of Spain. I—" Surprisingly, this time Carlos was the one who was cut off.

"_Ahem_. Carlos, that's enough for now."

I spun around, and there stood Jonesy with a tray. He then sat next to Lise and began to examine her pasta-inhaling skills. He turned to me.

"I got you a plate of food." I then received a plate filled with sausages and mashed potatoes. I looked at it in awe. "How did you know that was my favorite?"

Jonesy gave me an almost afraid look. "Um…lucky guess?" he stammered.

I then began to devour the sausages, while Jonesy picked away at an English muffin. He then cleared his throat. "Well, eat up, you guys. We're taking a tour of the school, then it's time to take a blood test to find out who your parents are."

Lise responded by eating pasta. I then turned back to my plate of food, and took a bite of a sausage.

Soon enough, we were done with our meals, except for Lise, who had a seemingly endless supply of spaghetti.

"We have to take the tour now, Lise," said Jonesy.

Lise shoveled some more pasta into her face.

Jonesy sighed, and dragged her by the arm away from her food, which was quickly taken up by Carlos. "_Adios!"_ he called back to us. We were then led out through the doors again.

Lise grabbed my arm. "Paastaa…" she groaned.

And we began the weirdest tour we had ever been on. We first toured the country dorms, and we were exhausted by the time we were done. Lise even went missing at one point, and we eventually found her in the China dorm.

She was talking to a young girl who didn't look any older than six. "So, Mei, how do you like school here?"

"Very good, aru! I am new here until you come!" Mei's broken English told me clearly that English wasn't her first language.

Jonesy gave Mei a smile, and said, "Lise, I see you've met my apprentice, Mei Wang, daughter of China. Mei, what are you doing, bothering this nice girl?"

Lise started. "I-it wasn't her fault! I started the conversation! Mei was just being polite!"

Jonesy ruffled Mei's short brown hair, and said, "I'm sure she was. Well, Mei, are you finished with your homework?"

Mei nodded vigorously, her tiny pigtails bouncing cutely.

"Well, how'd you like to accompany Lise, Nico, and me on a tour about the school, sweet?"

Mei's face broke into a grin, and she jumped off her bed, squealing, "Yes, please! Yes, please, aru!"

"Come on, then!" he said from the door. "You'll miss us!"

Mei dashed forward, and grabbed Jonesy and Lise's hands. "Wait for me, aru!"

As we walked down the hall, Mei looked at me with clear brown eyes that made my heart melt. Yes, she was _that _cute. "Who're your parents?"

Jonesy saved me from answering by saying, "They were adopted, Mei. That means their mama and baba didn't give birth to them, but that they care for children, whose parents can't care for the,. They don't know their parents."

This answer seemed to satisfy Mei, though she sometimes asked me and Lise questions on what it was like to be "adocked" (as she put it).

Anyway, we continued our tour, looking at the Japan dorm (empty), the Russia dorm (a couple of freaky, slasher-smiled, big-boned kids), the Spain dorm (we had a half-hour conversation with Carlos, meaning he talked nonstop with us listening). Finally, our last stop was the Britain dorm. I was amazed. The only used room was (I assumed) Jonesy's, and all sorts of cool stuff was thumb-tacked to the walls, like old 1700s and 1800s maps of the world, paintings of elaborate sailing ships, and several weird pagan symbols.

In the center of the room, on the wall opposite Jonesy's bed, was an oil painting of a man. He looked almost exactly like Jonesy. The same blond hair, the same eyebrows, heck, the only thing different was that the painting's eyes were green, while Jonesy's are blue.

He saw me staring, and smirked. "My father," he explained. "I haven't seen him since I was very small, so I put the painting up there so he can be the first thing I see every day."

"Why haven't you seen him for so long?" Lise asked.

Jonesy's silence told me that Lise had ventured into a big "no-no" topic. "None of your business," he finally muttered.

"Oh, I'm so sorry! I didn't mean to—"

Mei changed the subject by saying, "Jonesy, I'm hungry, aru! Can I get something to eat?"

Jonesy's scowl softened, and he tugged on one of Mei's pigtails. "Didn't you just eat, Mei?"

"No; I had too much homework. Can I get something to eat, please, aru?"

Jonesy took Mei's hand, and said, "Let's go, before the cafeteria closes. What do you want?"

Mei looked up at her with the puppy eyes of a child begging their parent for ice cream before dinner. "Salted rice and chicken wontons?"

Jonesy sighed, and said, "That much sodium can't be good for you, Mei."

"Please, aru!"

He facepalmed. "Fine! Just don't come crying to me if you get a heart attack!"

"Yay!"

We all got to the stairs. While Lise, Jonesy, and Mei started to go downstairs, I started to go upstairs. I passed to the 3rd, 4th, 5th… up and up and up, until I faced a door saying "8th Floor." I was just about to open the door, until I felt a strong hand on my shoulder. I turned, and saw a redheaded boy staring at me.

He stared at me for a moment, and then murmured, "This floor's off-limits."

I wrenched myself out of his grasp, and wrenched open the door. I immediately smelled salt and seaweed: the smell of the ocean. Decorating the walls were paintings of famous churches, temples, and towers. And in the middle of it all, there was a green, white, and red flag.

The Italian flag.

I pulled back, shutting the door behind me while the redhead gazed at me.

"Nico! Nico!" I heard Jonesy running up the stairs. He gazed up at us, surprised. All he said was, "I see you met my cousin, Seamus O'Connor, son of Ireland.

Seamus went back to his dorm, and Lise, Jonesy, and I toured the rest of the school. The large building in the middle housed the classes, and the building in the front (the orphanage) had the administrative offices, a library and…

"Welcome to the genealogy lab."

We were standing on front of two clear, sliding doors labeled "Genealogy Labs" in every single language imaginable. We entered to find ourselves in a giant lab, with people in white lab coats running around. On the back wall, there was a giant mural with people who I figured were the countries. But graffitied on it was the word "SUCK" in big letters, and an arrow pointing to an albino man labeled, "Awesome."

Lise and I went into hysterics when we saw this. But Jonesy just got mad.

"SIIAA!" he yelled.

An albino girl trotted towards her, her long, white ponytail bouncing behind her. She had a strong resemblance to the albino man in the picture labeled "Awesome."

"Yeah, yeah, what is it, Queen Victoria?" she asked, victoriously smirking.

"What is the bloody meaning of this!" said Jonesy, pointing to the defaced wall.

She laughed, and a tiny bird fell out of her hair.

"How should I know? Gilbert Jr. did it. So ask _him _about his wonderful masterpiece." The tiny bird hopped up and chirped in agreement.

"Grraahhaaa!" yelled Jonesy. "If I didn't have a sense of honor, I would have strangled you by now!"

Sia just chuckled. "Now do you want me to stick needles into these noobs or not?" she asked.

I realized that by noobs, she meant us.

"Fine, that's what I came here for in the first place!" Jonesy yelled, his eye twitching.

Jonesy then regained his composure a little bit, and motioned to Sia. "This is Sia, daughter of Prussia, the—"

"Most awesome country ever!" yelled Sia.

Jonesy's eye began to twitch again. "Sia, draw their blood or I'll bloody—"

Sia then did an elaborate bow with lots of arm waving. "As you wish, your majesty." Jonesy's eye twitched one more time.

"Thank you, Sia." Sia then walked off to three chairs set up in a row under the mural. We followed her. "Get in the chairs, noobs." I was about to protest her calling me a noob, but Jonesy stopped me.

"Don't get upset; she does this to everybody."

I scowled, clenched my fists, and sat in a chair next to Lise, who looked like she was about to fall asleep. But she was woken up by a _snap, snap, _as Sia snapped on antiseptic gloves.

"Listen up noobs!" said Sia, pacing back and forth, her bird fluttering behind her.

"I'm going to stick needles into you, draw some blood, and we will compare it to the country DNA, so that way we will be able to find out what loser country provided you."

She stopped pacing, and looked at us. "Who wants to go first?"

"_Chirp!"_

Lise quickly pointed at me. She hated needles.

Sia shrugged. "Fine," she said, and before I knew what was happening, Sia had a needle in me. After a few seconds, I started to feel dizzy. Sia pulled it out, then quickly poked another into Lise's forearm.

Once she had filled the second vial, Sia pulled the needle out. She took the two tubes, walked to a large computer, and dropped the vials down a chute near it.

The computer screen flickered on. It seemed to run through a set of data, then a small slip of paper printed out of the side.

Curious to what was going on, Lise and I got up to see what was happening. Sia quickly turned around and walked towards us. She turned over the slip of paper, and began to read from it.

"Feliciana Bianca Stoker and Ludwig Nico Stoker, your parents are—" Sia's eyes went wide, like she had seen a ghost, and she stumbled backwards, dropping the paper.

Jonesy quickly got up, rolled his eyes, and went to retrieve the paper. "What the bloody hell has gotten into you, Sia?" He picked up the slip and read from it. His eyes, too, went wide. His hands shook, and he slowly stared up at us.

"Your parents are North Italy and Germany."

**The secret's out! Congrats to those of you who guessed Lise and Nico's parents correctly!**


	7. Chapter 7

After that, we were rushed down to the first floor, where the offices were. We were then briskly walked into an office, and forced into a chair.

"What's happening, Nico?" Lise squeaked, squeezing my hand. We then heard the voices of Jonesy, New York, and Sealand outside.

"Axis children? So that's what I had to pause my Pokemon game for? How can there be Axis children?" said a voice that I figured was New York.

"The test results don't lie!" Jonesy insisted.

"I'll go notify my big brother, and the Axis and Allies!" said Sealand.

_Axis and Allies, what? _I thought.

"Whatever!" yelled New York. "I'll have to go explain to them what's going on. They must be terrified."

New York then entered the dorm, walked to the chair behind the desk, and looked at us hard. He was wearing nothing but Snoopy pajamas.

"I guess you guys would like to know what's happening, right?"

We nodded.

New York sat back in the chair. "You know World War II, right?" he asked. "It was America, England, China, Russia, and France vs. Italy, Germany, and Japan. Of course, the Axis lost."

"Hey, that's what we were learning about in school today!" Lise exclaimed.

New York nodded. "Well, after a country loses a war, they usually get some form of punishment. They have to pay taxes, give up their land, et cetera. But the end of World War II was different. Since the Axis had committed such crimes against humanity, there was a new punishment given. The members of the Axis were not allowed to have any more children for a hundred years."

My eyes went wide. "It all makes sense now! Italy and Germany were a part of the Axis, and we're their kids!"

New York nodded. "Exactly. And since your parents broke this rule, there will probably be some form of punishment for them." He paused, and looked at his watch. "Whew! Look at the time! It's already 11:00. You guys should be exhausted!"

I then realized that I was. Lise, actually, had fallen asleep.

"We'll send you to one of the extra bedrooms in this building. And tomorrow, we'll get you two sorted out. Maybe you will even meet your parents.


	8. Chapter 8

We were then placed in a spare bedroom. It was really nice, actually. There was a soft carpet, and even a bathroom. There were two beds, both of which had flags of the world embroidered on them. I sat on top of it, and thought about what had happened, and Lise thought about it in her own special way.

"Meh…Italy…Germany…World War II…Nyagh…too much information…can't...compute…pasta…" she mumbled in her sleep.

After a little while, my mind wandered to a particular subject—what was happening to my family...After dwelling for a few minutes about how Lanie and Joan must feel…and then…

There was a knock on the door. "Uh…Come in!" I called.

In stepped Jonesy, a worried look on his face.

"What is it?" I asked.

"Uh…nothing. Just wanted to see if you two are all right." He then turned to leave. "Uhm…I have a question," he said.

"Yes?"

"Was New York okay to you guys?"

"Um…yeah…he kind of seemed more knowledgeable about what was going on than usual."

"Oh, okay." He nodded. "That's because he was asleep."

"_What?"_

"Mr. Lucas sleepwalks. Whenever he's doing this, he seems to become more mature."

"Why does he sleepwalk?" I asked.

"I'm guessing it's because New York City never sleeps. But this means that he's been skipping out on his sleep pills. DC and I will have to take his internet connection for a while."

"DC?"

"District of Columbia, Collin Smith, New York's and my brother. Even though he's younger than New York, he handles a lot of what New York is supposed to."

I thought about this for a little bit. "Are there any other states here, then?"

"Yep. My sister, New Jersey, teaches history, and there are a few more others, but you should get to bed. Bye!" Jonesy left, leaving me alone with my thoughts again.

Then, I realized something kind of disturbing.

_If countries are people, what happens when they're invaded?_


	9. Chapter 9

Sunlight was streaming through the window. Blearily, I got up, and my arms collapsed like Jell-O. I then rolled off of the bed, expecting to hit the plush carpet, but instead—

"OW!" yelled what I landed on.

"Whahuzzere?" I asked in a daze.

"Shh…It's me, New York. I'm using your internet connection, there's unsecure wireless in here."

I had landed on top of New York. He was still wearing those ridiculous Snoopy pajamas, and his blond hair was messed up.

I then noticed an extremely long cowlick. Having nothing better to do, I grabbed it. "Get out of here," I hissed.

"EEEEEEE! Let go of Long Island!" he exclaimed.

I let go. "I thought Jonesy took away your internet connection," I said.

New York's eyes went puppy-dog wide. "_Please_ don't tell DC!" he begged. "He gets really scary when he's angry!"

I scowled. This guy was the absolute most immature person I've ever met. Besides Lise, of course.

"Uhh…I can pay you!" he said. He took a piece of paper out of his pocket, scribbled something on it, and handed it to me. "That should cover it!" he said, giving me a thumbs-up.

At first I thought it was a check, but then I really looked at it. It was a scrap piece of white paper with the word, "Munny" scribbled on it. Yes, with a U. Before I could yell at him about it, Jonsey and a teenager I hadn't seen before burst in the door.

"There you are!" Jonesy yelled.

"We were looking all over the friggin' academy for you!" yelled the teenager. He was dressed in a nice suit, and was wearing glasses, and had perfectly combed dirty blond hair. He was basically a complete contradiction to New York.

He grabbed New York's collar, and grabbed his cowlick, er, Long Island.

"You will take your sleeping pills more from now on, do you understand?" DC yelled, spitting mad.

"Yes, yes, yeees!" New York whined.

"Now, you're coming with me!" DC yelled. "And no more ice cream for breakfast!" He threw New York out the door, and shut it with a _BAM._

I turned to Lise's bed. Surprisingly, she had slept through all of it, and I knew there was no waking her up unless I had food. I poked her cheek. She didn't respond. I then got an idea.

"Hey, Lise!" I yelled. "Jean's here! And he has spaghetti!"

Lise immediately jumped up. "REALLY? What, what, I'm up!"

I fell over laughing. "Ha! You really fell for it!"

She turned, bright red, then threw a pillow at me. I kept laughing. Finally, I stopped long enough to talk.

"Look…make sure you change—" I then realized that I had slept in the clothes I came in. Lise had, too.

"Uuum…What are we supposed to do about clothes?"

I shrugged. We needed to find Jonesy. I felt completely lost

"Uuh…what should we do?" asked Lise.

I shrugged. "I'm just as lost as you are."

"Hmmm…" said Lise, thinking. "I vote on wandering around the school, or at least to find someone to help us!"

We crept out of the room, past a room with a snoring New York (probably stoned from sleep pills), and a few other rooms which were probably used by other states. "How much longer till we find someone to help us?" Lise complained. "I NEED a shower; I'm growing mushrooms here!"

"Okay, one, that is too much info than _I _need to know, and I'm your freaking _twin_. Two, it's early in the morning on the first day of winter break. D'you think _ANY_ normal person would be up?"

"No, but…"

"YO! Noobs!" The familiar German accented voice was right behind me. Sia stepped in front of me. "Who woulda thought Germany knocked up Veneziano? Well, my vati's your vati's _bruder, _so that makes us cousins!" She looked us up and down, almost as though she were summing us up.

I huffed. "Will you _please,_ cousin dearest, tell us where to get some clothes around here?"

Sia smirked, twirling her white ponytail with one finger. "Of course, of course, noob. After this, how'd you like to play me in Modern Warfare? I hope you're good!" Without bothering for a reply, the albino grabbed Lise and me by the arms and led us from the building to the genealogy lab.

"Why are we here?" Lise asked nervously.

"Kesesese! Well, noobs, the school uniform is that you have to wear the colors of your parent country. That means all uniforms are made here!" Sia grabbed two packets from a shelf, and passed them to us.

I gently tore away the tissue paper, pretty sure what I would find. Black pants, red jacket, and yellow shirt. It just screamed at me, "this is Germany's weirdo Nazi spawn! Let's throw rocks at him and his Axis sister!"

I heard a muffled sob as Lise opened a green skirt, red jacket, and white stockings and shirt. But, I didn't turn. These uniforms finalized it: we should have never been born. We were nothing more than mistakes. We were never wanted.

A pale hand gripping my shoulder jarred me out of my thoughts. "That's not true!" Sia hissed, as if she could read my mind. I realized she was wearing the exact same uniform as Lise, but hers was white and navy. "They wanted you, noob, I know they did! Italy could have just as easily had an abortion, but he risked his status as a country _and _his immortality so Lise and you could be born! You do know he probably could have died if he was found out?" She gazed at me with (for once) gentle red eyes. "He loved you."

"What happens now?" Lise asked in a shaky voice. "Will they get killed now that they've found out?"

Prussia's daughter looked at Lise. "I don't know, Lise. I don't know." Her scared frown softened in a smile. "Now, noob, if you get ANY trouble from the other kids, tell your big cuz, Sia, will ya? I know what to do." Seeing our bewildered expressions, she continued. "Little cousins, you forgot that I'm an Axisling as well."

On that happy note, she whipped around, her ponytail swirling around her. "So, Nick, Lissie, play me on Call of Duty after you're changed?"

Trying to forget our conversation, I smirked at her, trying to match hers as best I could. "You're on, noob!"

"So not awesome, Nico!"


	10. Chapter 10

After a half-hour round of Call of Duty (Lise died within two minutes, and Sia and I played cat-and-mouse for the majority of the game, ended only when Sia jumped me when I had my guard down) Sia told us it was time for breakfast.

"Really!" Lise exclaimed. The two things that can get Lise's attention: food and boys.

[OW! Why'd you do that, Lise! That HURT!]

I got off the carpeted floor, wincing at the Germany school uniform chafing against my skin. Ugh, how could I get used to wearing this? It was like a brand of shame to me and Lise, like an automatic ticket to a free shunning!

Lise wiped some grime off of her green skirt, and stood up. "Let's go!" she said, running to the door. Poor kid had no idea how complicated things were.

Lise skipped through the campus, gaining stares by her red, white, and green uniform. But, I guess no one paid her much mind; there were probably quite a few countries with red, white, and green flags.

But, as Sia and I passed, I gained stares and whispers from my black, yellow, and red uniform.

"Look at that new kid, da!"

"Why's he dressed like a son of Germany?"

"Don't you know? He's a bastard Axisling!"

"No wonder his sister's wearing Italian colors!"

Now Lise began to attract stares from this comment. We ran faster, and we finally reached the continent buildings. Lise ducked inside of the Europe building, ready for her quest for pasta. But when we burst through the cafeteria doors, the room became completely silent.

Everyone's eyes were on us.

Lise and I slowly walked toward the buffet line. Lise began to pile pasta on her plate. Someone in the room gasped.

"So it's true!" someone yelled.

The room became ear-splitting with voices, shouting taunts, booing, and speculating what would happen to our parents.

Sia then appeared beside me.

"Don't you NOOBS have anything else to do!" Sia shouted. The room immediately shut up.

Some other albino kids at another table began to stomp their feet and cheer, "GO, SIA!"

She grabbed my arm. "After Lise gets her pasta, let's go to the North America dorm. It's mostly empty."

I nodded. Lise came back around with a plate of normal-portioned pasta. She must have been too nervous to eat if she didn't grab a giant pile.

We went out the door, and the cafeteria seemed to return to normal directly afterwards.

As we were walking silently to the North America dorm, we heard a voice behind us. "Oi! Can I come with you guys?" We turned around. It was Seamus.

"Yeah, sure," said Sia.

Seamus ran directly up to us, his eyes met Sia's, and he looked away and blushed. I could immediately tell he liked her. "Why are you coming, Seamus? I thought you usually ate the Euro food," said Sia.

"Umm...I, um...wanted to try something new."

Sia shrugged. "Okay."

We were then at the North America door. We entered...and silence.

There was only a couple of kids sitting around, and a woman...wearing a sombrero and a poncho. She had long, dark black hair.

"Mexico?" Seamus exclaimed. "What're _you_ doing here?"

The woman turned around. "_Hola!_" she said. "I was just seeing my kid. Toodle-oo!" She then abruptly left.

"Who was that?" Lise asked.

A voice answered. Jonesy's voice. He stepped in. "That, you see, was Mexico. She is always sneaking into school grounds."

"Oh," I said. "Wait, why are you here?"

"If you didn't know, the United States of America is my dad.""

"I thought that he was your brother, and that Britain was your dad." _Crap! I shouldn't have said that! _I thought. Last time he became so emotional! But, to my surprise, he talked about it this time.

"My brother is the new embodiment. He replaced Dad after he went missing. I wasn't even born. I was an m-preg baby, like you; Father was still pregnant with me." Tears welled up in his eyes. "I-I was cleaning up Dad's junk. He had left a lot of stuff in a supply closet."

I noticed in his hands, he held some odds and ends: vintage comic books, action figures, and a camera.

Jonesy quickly wiped away his tears.

"Uhh...can I eat with you?" he asked.

"Sure, Queen Victoria," said Sia. Sia, Seamus, Jonesy and I began to grab stuff from the breakfast buffet, while Lise sat down at a table with two other girls, eating her breakfast of pasta.

I only got a small portion of food. I felt sick.

Sia got a crap-ton load to toast. When she saw me looking at it like it had dropped from the moon, she pointed to her head.

"It's for Gilbird Jr."

A tiny bird hopped out of her hair.

"Does that bird seriously eat that much toast?" asked Jonesy. His plate held one singular English muffin.

"You'd be surprised," said Sia. Almost on cue, the tiny bird fluttered down to her plate, and started pecking at a piece toast faster than I could imagine the thing would have the stamina to do. Within a few seconds, the toast was gone. It then started on another piece, with the same results.

"How does your bird not get fat?" I asked.

Sia shrugged. "How does your sister not get fat after eating a truckload of pasta?"

"Touché."

We sat with Lise and the other two girls. One had tanned skin, and light brown hair. The other had dark skin, and black hair.

Seamus nodded to them. "This is Isabel, daughter of Mexico, and Gabriella, daughter of Cuba."

Isabel smiled and nodded. She seemed a bit like the peppy Mexico we had met two minutes ago.

Gabriella did a tiny wave. She then noticed my clothing. "Um...may I ask why you are wearing Germany's colors?" she asked, her dark eyes piercing into me.

But, before anyone could answer, Seamus stepped in. "You know, why are you two wearing your uniform at all? It's winter break." I noticed that he was right.

I shrugged. "Lise and I didn't come with anything; all our other clothes are in the wash."

Jonesy glanced at me. "Why didn't you tell me? You could've borrowed some of my stuff, and I could've asked admin to get someone to get your belongings from your home. You can do that."

"Really?" Lise exclaimed. "Thanks so much; you're so nice!" She jumped Jonesy, tackling him to the ground in an embrace.

Seamus chuckled at this display, and whispered to Isabel, "That is _definitely _Italy's daughter."

Isabel giggled and nodded.

I picked at my eggs and bacon (FINALLY something recognizable!) and focused on the scratches in the table. I turned when I heard a quiet voice murmur, "Um...excuse me?" Behind me was a young girl. She didn't look any older than ten, and in her arms was a little stuffed polar bear. "Hi. I noticed you were new here. You're Ludwig Vargas, right?"

I gazed at her in confusion. Then, I remembered about Italy's human name being Feliciano Vargas.

"I'd prefer to go by Nico Stoker."

The girl gasped loudly, and started stuttering something. The poor kid looked like she was about to cry. "O-oh, I'm sorry! I just only heard about you and Feliciana-"

"Lise."

"...Lise through gossip. I'd never met you." She shifted the bear into another arm. "I'm Jacqueline Williams, by the way. Everyone calls me Jackie, though. I'm the child of Canada and Ukraine."

I gave her my hand. "Nico Stoker, son of Germany and North Italy."

She shook it briefly, and smiled at Jonesy, who smiled and nodded back to her. "Bye," she murmured. "See you in class, I guess."

She left.

I turned to Jonesy. "You know her?"

Jonesy nodded. "She's the daughter of Canada. Canada's America's twin brother."

"Which America?"

"My dad. Anyway, even though Jackie and I are cousins, we barely ever talk; I don't know why."

Things were quiet for a while, silence broken only by the sound of chewing and clattering of silverware.

Finally, when even Lise had her fill, I decided to ask something. "Jonesy, what do you do here when there's no school?"

Isabel smiled. "I'm going to spend today with _mi __mamá, _and Gábi's spending today with Jackie!" She finished that with a giggle and a furiously blushing Cuban girl insisting. "I'm NOT GAY!"

Seamus turned to Jonesy. "Ann-er, I mean, Jonesy, today's a full moon. You gonna go out tonight, or what?"

Jonesy glared at his cousin. "Why not? I haven't forgotten a meeting of fae in years, and I have no intentions of starting."

Sia saw Lise's and my bewildered glances at each other, and she said, (a little too loudly) "Jonesy says that he sees fairies, only he calls 'em, 'fae.' We keep telling him to take drugs for it, but..."

"Bloody Prussian, they're REAL! I swear on Grandma Britannia's GRAVE!"

Sia shot back, in a hoity-toity (bad) British accent, "Bloody prick, you're mad as a hatter!"

Just when I was afraid their argument would evolve into a full-out fistfight, a voice on the loudspeaker announced, "Miss Feliciana Bianca Vargas and Mr. Ludwig Nico Vargas please report to New York's office."

We looked at each other in confusion. Lise's face looked like an LOLWUT face.

"You guys better get going," said Jonesy."

And off we went. We exited the building, running as fast as we could, hoping that no one would see us. We quickly reached the administrative building and entered its doors. There was a lobby and a few people were standing around. I saw Washington DC, too. He quickly noticed us.

"Ah, you two, come with me." We followed him as he walked through some double doors, and then entered a new office. There was a desk, which was being occupied by New York, and a few chairs with young men sitting in them on either side of the room, and two empty chairs in the middle.

DC motioned to them. "You two, please, take a seat." Lise and I slowly sat ourselves in the chairs awkwardly. Everyone in the room's eyes were on us.

I swallowed. I felt so nervous. Once we had taken our seats, New York cleared his throat.

"Well, the kids are here, and so is DC...Bye."

New York made a dash for the door, but was blocked by DC. "Oh, no you don't!" said DC, grabbing New York's collar...and his cowlick. "Now get back in that chair, or Jonesy and I will sneak into your dorm and shove toast in your Xbox and fill your mouth with Cheez-Whiz while you sleep!" DC threatened.

"_Aieee_! No! Don't! I'll sit! Let go of Long Island!" New York squealed, but not before he was shoved into the seat by DC.

He then began to continue on like nothing had happened, sorting out his hair while speaking. "Well, anyways...I have brought you all here because-"

A familiar-looking man with large eyebrows sitting on the left side of the room interrupted. "Why William decided to make you headmaster after Henry died, I'll never understand." He spoke in an accent similar to Jonesy. Then I realized he was the man in the painting hanging in Jonesy's room.

He was her father. He was Britain.

A man sitting next to him, who had half as large eyebrows as Britain and similar blond hair with blue eyes and glasses, argued to this. "It's not my fault the old man died, Father! New York seemed like a good choice because it was _located_ here!"

DC calmly walked up to the two of them and smacked them both in the face with a binder. "You two focus! We have an issue on our hands! Why do you think you countries were called down her in the first place? Do you want me to deal with you like I deal with New York?" If Russia's kids were intimidating, DC was freaking _terrifying. _Britain and William immediately shut up.

"Whoa! That guy is scary!" said a man on the other side of the room. He had auburn hair, and a stupid grin on his face. He also had a small curl like Lise's, only instead of being at the end of a ponytail, it hung to the right side of his head.

He was sitting in between a tough-looking, blue-eyed, blond-haired man, and a dark-haired Asian man who was wearing a white suit. The man with the curl in his hair turned to us. "So, you guys are Ludwig's and my babies, right?" he asked. "You look so cute! Mamma and Vati hasn't seen you since you were _bambini!_

Tense silence filled the room as everyone's attention was turned back to us. Lise began to fidget in her chair. DC stood up straight and cleared his throat. "Yes, we were getting to that, thank you, Italy. Now, if you guys have anything to say to your kids or whatever, do it now."

We turned to Italy, and the blond man who I guessed was Germany. Even more tense silence ensued. We sat like that, facing each other for what seemed like hours, until someone spoke. "It feels awkward in here!"

I turned around. A big-boned man with gray hair and purple eyes just spoke. He was wearing a winter coat and a scarf. He looked pleasant enough, but there was something about him that unnerved me, an aura of some sort, I guess...Or maybe it was just the way he kept scooching towards the man sitting next to him, who had dark hair in a ponytail. He, in turn, would inch away.

DC struck his forehead with his palm. "Thank you, Russia, for stating the obvious."

"You're welcome!" Russia said happily.

"Um..." Lise murmured. All eyes turned to us. I shuffled in my seat. "If you're going to punish us for being born, can you please get on with it? I'd like to know if we're being kicked out of here."

Silence. All of the nations were staring at Lise. Then, the younger nation who was arguing with Britain earlier (America, I guess?) spoke up.

"Well, Italy's daughter is correct!" He smirked at the Axis. "For once."

Germany glared at America, while Italy looked oblivious (as usual). Now I see where Lise got it...[OW!] Anyway, the black-haired Asian man said, "I vote to allow them to remain in the school. They couldn't choose who their parents are."

America spat at the man, "Says the guy who had Greece's bastard Axisling spawn, Japan. You, of all people, should know how much pain Axislings cause."

Japan stiffened, was silent for a moment, and then murmured, "O-of course, America. I had forgotten. You are right; they don't belong here."

America continued on his rant. "Anyway, I vote they be sent to the outside world. The school doesn't have room for unwanted Axislings."

Germany hissed at America, "_Never _speak about Japan's daughter like that, and _never_ speak about _mein kinder_ like that, either."

I barely even had time to register that my birth father was actually standing up for me and Lise, when America stated coolly, "I'd watch my mouth, Germany. We're deciding your and Italy's fate, not just the children's."

He got out of his chair and sauntered over to us. He asked, "Okay, Feliciana, Ludwig, you were named after your parents."

Lise and I reluctantly nodded. The guy was just so freaking intimidating, we had no choice but to do what he wanted.

"Where were you born?"

"We...we don't know. We were adopted in New York," I whispered.

All was quiet for a few moments, when suddenly-

"Venice. They were born in Venice." All eyes turned to Germany, including Lise's and mine. Venice? As in Venice, Italy? That was where we were born?

America wrote something in his clipboard. "Venice...How old are you?"

"Thirteen," Lise and I both said in unison.

After writing a bit more, and a bit more questioning from America (mostly about our family life in New York) I was ready to burst from the tension. I just wanted to know what our fates would be.

Lise began running her hands down the breads on her rosary, whispering prayers under her breath. I looked at Italy, who was staring at her rosary with strange interest.

New York stood up in his chair, and said, "Before we make a decision, I want to say that I am supporting Lise and Nico. Ever since they came here, they've shown so much potential. Nico is so smart, and Lise is as talented as Roman Empire himself. I don't give a damn who their parents are."

He sat back down, and flashed Lise and me a smile. We nodded in thanks. America looked ready to explode.

"No one asked you, Jake! You don't matter in this; you're just a state!"

"I'm your older brother, emphasis on _older_, William, and I'm the headmaster of this school. I have a right to decide who goes in my school and who doesn't. And the International Academy could use kids like them."

Silence. New York was looking triumphant, with America looking furious, and the rest of the countries looking shocked.

"C-control your brother!" America snapped to DC.

DC gave America a glare. "He's your brother, too, William. You should be able to control him just as well as me."

America crossed his arms and pouted like a little kid. Finally, he sighed, and murmured, "All in favor of expulsion and deportation?" He raised his own hand, along with Japan, Russia, and (reluctantly) Britain, who looked scared.

"All in favor of them remaining here?" Germany, Italy, a blond-haired man who looked like Jean, and guy with the ponytail raised their hands.

"A tie," Britain muttered. To be honest, he sounded kind of..._relieved_.

"I will be the tiebreaker," DC announced. "The capitols _are _the tiebreakers, in case you forgot," he said, glancing at America. He raised his hand. "I vote for them remaining here. It would be unwise to keep children with such potential out of our school."

"Then it is settled," Ponytail said. (He reminded me a lot of Mei.) "They will stay. Meeting adjourned."

At this, America stormed out of the room, flashing Lise and me a glare that practically screamed, "This isn't over."

We were about to leave the room when I felt a hand on my shoulder. Lise and I turned around to see Britain.

"I do hope you'll forgive me for my choice. William is my son. I couldn't go against him."

I was about to say a quick insult to him about how he was afraid of his own son when Lise answered for me.

"Of course we forgive you!"

Britain gave her a sad smile. "My, you _do _take after your parents. I haven't seen my own child for many years."

"Yeah, Jonesy told us that He has a picture of you in his room, you know!"

Britain's smile became a little bit more genuine. But just a little. "Jonesy? That's the name Annabelle goes by now? She must be such a tomboy for you to actually consider her a boy! But never mind. Tell her that I send her my love." With a smile, he left the room.

All was quiet for a sec between Lise and me. Then, we both opened our mouths and said the same thing. I don't know if it was because of that twin telepathy you hear about in the movies, or what, but what we both said was the last thing we should've been worrying about.

"_Jonesy's a CHICK?_"


	11. Chapter 11

We left the room, and made our way back to the Europe dorm, where Seamus, Jean, and Jonesy were staring out the windows.

No sooner did we open the door than we were bombarded with questions by the three kids.

"Did you see my mam?"

"How is _mon p__è__re _doing?"

"Who bloody cares? Are you staying or not?" Jonesy asked. Now that I knew that Jonesy was a girl, I noticed some things about her that I didn't before, like the small swellings on her chest, the high pitch in her voice.

Basically, it made me want to smack my face and wonder why the hell I didn't figure it out sooner.

"Let up!" Lise exclaimed. "We're staying! It was a tie between the nations, but DC broke it!"

"Thank God," Jonesy breathed. "I'll have to thank him."

"And Annabelle," I said to Jonesy, whose face fell with shock, "your father sends you his love."

"Umm..." she said, "how did you know I was a girl?"

"Your father told me," I said. I thought about what happened n the meeting. And about the countries...There was something about their presence...

Lise then spoke up. "Hey, Jonesy," she said, "is your brother always a jerk, or what?" He was being a real-"

Jonesy quickly answered. "No. Uh, well, after Dad disappeared, William's just been different, so I've heard."

"Was the old America like that?" Lise asked quietly.

Jonesy shook her head. "He was just a happy idiot."

"Like Lise?" I asked.

"Yes."

[OW! You know, if you're gonna smack me every time I say something insulting-]

Jonesy began to stare through the windows again. She turned back.

"You guys must be hungry. That meeting took a while; how about some-"

"Pasta?" Lise yelled. Jonesy just stared.

"You really _are_ like Italy. But why don't you get something different. That much spaghetti just can't be good for-"

"Fine. I'll have pizza!"

Jonesy smacked her head. "Ugh! Fine! Whatever! Let's just get some food."

We walked down to the cafeteria, passing people whispering (probably about us). In the hallway, we grabbed our lunches, quickly ate, and went back to the dorm.

Sia tagged along. "So, do you noobs get to stay or not?"

I shrugged. "We're here, aren't we?"

Sia laughed, and rubbed her chin, deep in thought. "Now, the only problem is deciding where you will sleep."

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"We need to decide which dorm you will use, since your parents are both countries, noobs."

I shrugged. "So I could go to the Germany dorm, while Lise could go to the Italy dorm?"

She shrugged. "You two should check out the dorms first before you decide."

We then realized that Jonesy, Lise, and Jean were way ahead of us on the stairway.

Sia called up to them. "Hey, guys! Want to help the noobs pick out their dorms?"

Jonesy nodded. "Yes, we are closest to the Germany dorm. Why not see that one?"

The three then entered a door to the side as we ran up the stairs to them. We entered through the same door, which was large and made out of dark wood. Inside, it was magnificent. There was a long hallway, one of which led to rooms, and another that led to a kitchen and a sitting area.

I entered out of the rooms with Lise, and found a room that I immediately loved. Posters of German architecture were tacked to the wall, and there was a dark wooden desk that was stocked with every writing instrument imaginable.

I looked at Lise, who didn't seem as excited as I was. She sat down on the bed, which was covered in a quilt embroidered with German flags, and sighed.

" I think I might go for the Italy dorm."

We left the room to find Sia, Jean, Jonesy and Seamus sitting on the couches in the sitting area, chatting. A German flag hung on the side wall, along with pictures in black and white of Hamburg, Berlin, and other German cities.

Sia noticed us. "So, you like this?" she asked.

I nodded. Lise just shrugged.

Seamus got up and stretched. "Well, let's go to the Italy dorm."

We left the room, and continued up the flight of stairs, passing more doors. But we stopped at one that caught my eye.

It as a door like all the other, with the crest of some sort of eagle wearing a crown. Tacked onto it was a sigh that said, "_Awesome Dorm_" and "_No Noobs Allowed_." Heavy metal music could be heard from inside.

Lise stopped to stare, too. Sia noticed us. "That's the Prussia dorm. Me, Russ, Gilbert Jr., and Pria all live here. As you can see, it's the most awesome place in this academy. You may stare in awe."

She opened the door, and we stared, though not in awe. We came face-to-face with a bunch of partying teenagers. All of them were albino.

A guy who looked around eighteen flashed us a grin. "Yo, Sia!" I noticed he had Sia's German accent. "These are our little cousins, aren't they?"

He waltzed over and looked at us with red eyes. "So! You're _Onkel_ West's kids, right? I'm Gilbert Jr., son of the awesome Prussia!"

"Um..." I began. West? Who the hell was West?

"West? As in West Germany? _Gott, _and I thought your _mutter_ was dense! You're the kids of Germany? Right?"

"Yes, we are!" Lise said quickly, noticing how nervous I looked.

"Awesome! Hey, Pria, Russ, grab these kids a beer!" Two kids popped up, and rushed to a bed. The boy (I assumed he was Russ) grabbed a six-pack of beer and handed them to Gilbert Jr., who handed two cans to Lise and me. We held them, but didn't open them.

"W-where the bloody _hell _did you get those, Gilbert Beilschmidt?" Jonesy shrieked. She snatched the beer out of Gilbert Jr.'s hands, and dangled them from the plastic like a dead animal. "You're underage! How many of you have been drinking this?"

All of Prussia's kids raised their hands, including Sia, who cheekily said, "Well, Queen Victoria, his name is Gilbert Beilschmidt _the Second._ It sounds awesomer that way."

Jonesy spat at Sia in response. "Well, I expected better from all of you, especially Gilbert Jr. Letting your ten-year-old sister drink..."

"Hey!" Pria yelled.

"I do believe I have to report you," Jonesy continued.

"Meh, New York wouldn't care," Russ scoffed.

"Not to New York. To DC."

The atmosphere in the room changed dramatically. Where there once was arrogance and pride was now fear and apprehension.

"Please don't!" Pria exclaimed.

"We'll do anything!" Russ chimed in.

Sia rolled her eyes, and said, "You won't tell, will you, Queen Victoria? Especially since we know your real name and gender!"

Jonesy paled. "You wouldn't..." she whispered.

"Oh, we sure will, Annabelle Mary Kirkland! Don't you agree, Gilbert Jr.?"

"Oh, we will!"

Jonesy paused for a moment, her expression telling us that she desired more than anything the chance to call the children of Prussia words I can't repeat.

But all she said was, "Fine. Enjoy your alcohol. Come on, guys." She grabbed Lise and me, while Jean and Seamus followed uneasily.

"Dang it, I wanted some," Seamus whispered.

Jonesy stomped up to the Italy dorm without a word. We stood awkwardly in the hall while Lise flitted from room to room with Seamus and Jean, sometimes shouting out things in Italian that only I could understand, like, "_Oh, mio Dio__! __Questo__posto è bellissimo__!"_

Jonesy was staring at a picture of the Sistine Chapel. She was looking like she wanted to rip the picture off the wall, rip it in halves, rip those halves into quarters, burn them, and dance on the ashes.

In other words, she looked upset.

"Hey, you okay-?" I began, but was cut off by a sniffling sound.

Before I continue, if you are old enough, I suggest you calm yourself with a beer-no whiskey may be better-no actually, absinthe would be your best bet.

Anyway, Jonesy was crying. Tears started to trickle from her blue eyes, and her breaths came out in choked gasps as she pushed down sobs.

I stood next to her, completely stupefied about what to do. So I did the only thing I could think to do at the time. I walked forward and embraced her.

"It's okay. I won't question you," I murmured in her ear. "But whatever it is, the school finding out about you being a girl can't be all that bad, right?"

Jonesy pulled away awkwardly. "It's okay. It's just...ever since I found out what Dad was like, I tried to recreate him, I guess. I wore teh same clothes he would wear, I liked the same things he liked, I took on his last name, Jones, as a nickname. At one point, I even tried to talk with an American accent. I'm sure you know how that turned out." Then the British girl began talking in the worst American accent I ever heard. I couldn't help but laugh. Jonesy continued.

"I wanted to act like America's son because I thought a son would attract more attention than a daughter. If I was found out, everybody would see me as Annabelle Kirkland, the tomboy, instead of Jonesy Kirkland, America's son."

Her eyes filled with tears again, and she buried her face in my shoulder again. Now it was my turn to tense up. "I-I don't wanna l-let my daddy go! Why did he have to leave? WHY THE BLOODY HELL DID HE NOT COME HOME? I NEVER EVEN SAW HIM!"

By now, Jonesy was bawling into my shoulder. I stiffly patted her shoulder, and said, "It's fine. Whether you're a a boy or girl doesn't matter to me. You're America's child. That's all that counts."

I pulled away, and did the unthinkable: I kissed Jonesy's cheek.

She squeaked loudly, and her face turned beet-red. I guessed I was pretty red, too, as I said, "I-I'm so sorry! I didn't know what I was doing!"

She stared at me for a second, and just when I thought she was going to tell me off, she started laughing.

"W-what?"

"Y-y-your f-face!" she shrieked. She opened her mouth to say something else, but was cut off by another wave of laughter.

I did something equally shocking: I started laughing along with her.

Now, we must've been a sight to whoever saw us: two kids, one with tearstained cheeks, laughing up a storm.

[You sure did, Nico; I could hear you from the other side of the floor!]

[Proud to admit it, Lise, proud to admit it!]

Eventually, the laughter died down, with the two of us grinning like idiots at each other.

Lise came running down the hall, looking concerned. "What's going on? I can hear you from the other side of the building!"

This set us off laughing again, with Lise looking at us, wondering what the heck was going on.

[Close, Nico; I was worried for your and Annabelle's safety.]

Jean and Seamus walked in, and Jean explained, "Seamus and I are going back to our dormatories."

Seamus chuckled a little, and put his hand behind his head. "I think I could fit in a catnap. I'm so tired I could sleep like a Greek!"

Jean rolled his eyes. "You _always _sleep like a Greek, Seamus. Well, _au revoir, _anyway." He and Seamus left the room.

Lise, all of a sudden, snapped her fingers. "Hey! That reminds me! During the meeting, your brother said something about Japan having Greece's children. Are we not the first forbidden Axislings?"

Jonesy was silent. Dang, Lise sure knew how to ruin a moment.

She spoke. "You're right. You weren't the first. Twenty-five years ago, Japan became pregnant with Greece's baby, and he, like Italy, let her survive. He had a little girl, whom he named Sakura. But, he made a mistake: he was the one who raised her."

"He raised her?" Lise and I both asked in unison.

"Yes, he did. He had a house in the deep woods of Japan where he hid Sakura. He and Greece both raised her. God was on their side, I guess. She was never found out until Sakura was fifteen, ten years ago. Someone saw her, I don't know who, and reported them."

"W-what happened?" Lise whispered.

"No one really knew _what _to do. Some wanted Sakura to reenter society as a normal teenager. Some wanted her to go to the International Academy. William wanted...he wanted..."

"He wanted _what?" _I pressed,

"He wanted to kill her."

My heart crawled into my throat. "What did they decide to do?"

"They decided to take her to the Academy. But, as she, Sealand, and another nationling, a little girl, were about to pass through the border, a squad of soldiers were there, all armed. They asked for Sakura, that was all they wanted. Peter said no, but Sakura pushed him out of the way and gave herself up."

"Did they kill her?" I whispered. I was scared to hear the answer.

Jonesy looked at the two of us. "I didn't see what happened. I was too young to understand; only four years old. No body was found, but the gunshots and screams were enough evidence."

We were all silent. Lise looked horrified, and I...I didn't know what to think.

Jonesy said, "Japan probably chose to evict you, didn't he? If he did, it's because he has firsthand experience with how much pain Axislings can cause. He still wears white, Japan's color of mourning, all the time."

She looked out the dorm's window, to the woods below. "It's weird, but the day Sakura died was the day that that cherry tree started to sprout."

**Translations:**

**Mon p****è****re: My dad (French)**

**Onkel: Uncle (German)**

**Gott: God (German)**

**Mutter: Mother (German)**

**Oh, mio Dio****! ****Questo****posto è bellissimo!: Oh, my gosh/God! This place is beautiful! (Italian)**


	12. Chapter 12

**A/N: I'm back! Yay! Sorry, guys, school sucks. I had a crap-load of projects. (Thanks Mr. Travis...) Anyway, I'm back now and posting more chappies! I'll post until Wednesday, but then I'll have to stop because I'm giving up the computer for a Catholic holiday, Lent. Lent lasts 40 days, until Easter.**

**So, come Wednesday, you'll have to deal without this crap for 40 days, and I'll have to live without Hetalia fanfic for that long. Heh. Fun.**

**Anyway, my co-writer, Ninjacookie19, requested me to give a notice on who wrote who. So, I'm making a key for you.**

Normal text: I (Aquaqua) wrote it.

**Bold text: Ninjacookie19 wrote it. (with me doing a teensy bit of grammar editing. Ninja, if you don't like an edit, tell me. The America dorm is now the North America dorm.)**

* * *

><p><strong>After the end of the tour, I had chosen the Germany dorm, and Lise had settled down in the Italy dorm. But not before we had partied with the Prussians (who all called me cuz, or West Jr.). <strong>

**Luckily, this time they were drinking root beer, not to be harmed by Jonesy's wrath. Before the youngest had a sugar rush, that is.**

**Anyway, we left to eat a quick dinner, and Lise and I split up to our different dorms, with an extra uniform given to us by Jonesy. My face flushed when I thought of her.**

**[Nico likes Jonesy! Nico likes Jonesy!]**

**Shut up. How about your boyfriend-OW!**

**Anyway, as always, I let all of today's happenings sink into me. The countries, the dorms, Sakura, and Jonesy. Why did I kiss her?**

**And the countries...they were young, good-looking men. I thought they would have been older, or...something.**

**I drifted off to sleep, overwhelmed by the silence in the dorm.**

* * *

><p><em><strong>Squish.<strong>_** I woke up to something cold and squishy on my face. I blearily pulled my hand away, and immediately recognized what it was.**

**Shaving cream. My face grew red with anger. "And that, my friend, was the initiation ceremony!" said a voice. Jean leaned over me, smirking. **

**Seamus did, too. "You are a full-fledged member of the Academy, mate!"**

**I quickly sat up, fuming. They both just smirked at me. I was pretty annoyed by this. So, with my hand covered in shaving cream, I smacked their sorry little faces. "Get out of here!" I snapped.**

**They giggled like little girls and ran. Glad that they were gone, I got ready, and entered the flight of stairs, wearing my Germany uniform. **

**The hallways and staircases were filled with people, going here and there. I walked down to the buffet, grabbed some breakfast, and headed to the table where we usually sat. Seamus and Jean were laughing (probably reenacting the shaving cream prank) to a cackling Sia and a stoic Jonesy. Lise was sitting there, too, wearing familiar-looking Snoopy pajamas.**

**I sat down next to her. "Why are you wearing New York's pajamas?" I asked.**

**She rubbed her eyes. "He said it was an early Christmas present."**

_**Christmas**_**, I thought. I swallowed. I had forgotten! I looked around. People were setting up lights and wreaths around the lunchroom. Putting my small bit of shock behind, I slowly turned back to the table.**

**"What was that, you guys?" I asked.**

**As Sia laughed, Jonesy asked, "Oh, you mean their Initiation Ceremony?" her voice dripping with sarcasm. **

**Sia laughed harder. "You got a problem with it, Queen Victoria?"**

**Jonesy sighed, and rolled her eyes. "It's a tradition that's been going on for **_**years**_**. Whenever the newest newbies get their dorm chosen, someone has to go in and prank them. It's really stupid, if you ask me."**

**Seamus and Jean laughed, and we all finished up our breakfast. Seamus and Jean left to go to the basketball courts, while Sia left to go to the library. (Probably to do something horrible to it.) I was about to follow after them, but Jonesy grabbed my shoulder.**

**"Oh, no, you don't," she said. She woke up Lise (who had fallen asleep) and stood up. "You two need to fill out some paperwork." Lise groaned. Jonesy left, only to return with two envelopes. "Fill these out, okay?"**

**I nodded, and Lise's head dropped, which either was a nod, or meant she had fallen back to sleep. Jonesy seemed satisfied with this. "There is a study area that I can show you so that we can do this." She led us around the buffet table, behind more tables, and into a hallway. At the end, she opened it up to a small room. There were a few desks, a bookshelf, and a couch, which a boy with dark hair was sleeping on.**

**Jonesy gave a sigh at this, and nonchalantly pushed him off the couch. She scooted him away with her foot. He was still asleep. **

**Jonesy beckoned us to sit where the boy used to reside, and sat in the chair across it. She sat down the two envelopes and clapped her hands. "Well, let's get down to business. All you two need to do is full out the extra classes you want to do. Then we'll move from there."**

**I opened up the one labeled ****LUDWIG NICO VARGAS (FORMERLY STOKER)-GERMANY, ITALY****, and dumped the contents on the table.**

**It was a green sheet, with the extra classes listed. I picked it up, and looked it over. Engineering, art, music, theater, woodshop, basketball, tennis, baseball, archery, biology, the list went on and on. I felt kind of overwhelmed.**

**"Just check off four," said Jonesy. "That's how many extras you will be taking."**

**"Oh, so you mean like extracurricular courses? Like, electives?" I asked. She nodded.**

**I looked back down at the sheet. I had always liked science, maybe I would also choose a sport. I checked off basketball, engineering, physics, and technology. I put the paper back in its sleeve, and looked to Lise, who was done filling it out.**

**"What did you pick?" I asked.**

**"E-er...art, music, writing, and drama. I like those artsy things," she muttered. **

**Jonesy took the envelopes. "I'll get these to New York." She started towards the door, but tripped over the boy. He still (of course) remained asleep.**

**"Who is that?" I asked.**

**"One of Greece's sons. Sakura's younger half-brother, I guess. He and his brothers are triplets, and identical, so I can't think of his name right now. Well, bye." She left the room, leaving us with the snoring Greek. And German-Italian, because Lise had drifted off, too. Deciding not to wake her, I left to go to the basketball courts.**

**As I walked outside, I could already see a thin layer of snow on the ground. By the time I had reached the sports area, it was thick on the ground. Many kids were stopping their games for this, including Jean and Seamus, who were walking my way.**

**I waved. "Hey, guys!" I yelled out to them. I then shivered. All I Had on for warm clothing was the light Germany outfit. The two reached me.**

**"Yo, you want to go back to the dorms? When it starts snowing, the cafeteria begins to sell all kinds of hot chocolates!" said Seamus. Just as he was talking, the snow seemed to fall harder.**

**"We have to get inside! The North America dorm is the closest!" I yelled over the pounding snow. We all made a mad dash for it, passing kids having snowball fights, who didn't really seem to have a problem with the snow.**

**"What's up with them?" I asked.**

**"Antarctica's children!"**

**Choosing not respond, we all quickly made it inside of the North America dorm. It was warmer in here, and unlike the last time, it was loud and bustling. A large crowd had formed in the corner. Everywhere else, kids were laying out on newly-placed couches and pillows, watching soccer, the weather channel, and Christmas specials.**

**"What's all the hubbub?" I asked.**

**Jean shrugged. "It just the hot chocolate." We pushed through the crowd to reveal Mexico and Isabel standing on a table, ladling out hot chocolate to a waiting crowd. Among them I spotted New York, Sia, Jonesy, and Lise waiting patiently for hot chocolate. I walked up to them.**

**"Why are you here?" I asked.**

**"For the hot chocolate!" they all said in unison.**

**"I think everyone is!" said New York, referring to the large crowd of people that usually did not occupy the building. Before I could talk for any longer, Isabel called out to us.**

**"Hey, guys, you want some hot chocolate?"**

**"Yes!" everyone yelled. Almost immediately, cups were thrust into our hands. Our little group walked over to the couches and sat down.**

**"Man," said New York, "I've heard that Mexico's hot cocoa is the best!"**

**Seamus and I took a swig of it. It actually tasted pretty good. It was sweet , creamy-**

**"SPICY!" yelled Seamus, throwing himself to the floor. He rolled on the floor, clutching his mouth. **Everyone else was showing displeasure and/or disgust of the chocolate in various degrees, with Jonesysimply wincing, and covering her mouth, and New York basically imitating Seamus.

**"I forgot that original Mayan recipes were made with pepper, though..." said Jean, facepalming.**

Just then, a searing pain spread through my mouth. I clamped my hand over my mouth, tears streaming from my eyes, as I looked around for something to calm the horrible agony coursing through my jaw.

Lise, smirking, dangled two bottles of milk in front of Seamus and me. I grabbed for them, but Lise, the jerk she was, pulled them back. "Uh, uh, uh!" she exclaimed. "I'll give them to you under one condition!"

"Fine!" Seamus wailed. "Anything!"

"Seamus has to confess his crush to Sia, and Nico has to ask Jonesy on a date!"

"Anything!" I pleaded, my mind too frazzled with pain to realize what Lise was really asking.

Lise smirked, and dropped the bottles in front of us, which we uncapped and started slurping like two beggar boys. I swear, we would have lapped it off the floor if it came to that (which, thank God, it didn't).

It was then, with my mouth steadily cooling, I realized what Lise just asked us.

"WHO THE HELL MADE YOU MATCHMAKER?"

Lise just smirked and shrugged. "I did. And honestly, only and idiot would see that you guys just need a push in the right direction!"

"You suck," Seamus bluntly stated.

Lise giggled. "Either that, or I'm just an eccentric thinker, whose ideas seem stupid at first, but then turn out to be right all along!" She looked up and smiled. "Well, Gabriella and Jackie are waving me down, so toddles!"

She pressed a kiss to my forehead, and patted Seamus on the head like a dog as she skipped away to the Cuban and Canadian-Ukrainian girls.

"Your sister is a demon," Seamus hissed. "When she's _not_ acting like Italy's female clone, I swear she's an honest, straight-from-Hell _demon_."

"Don't I know it," I whispered. "I lived with her for thirteen years."

"I feel sorry for you."

"Thank you."

"Hey, you noobs done dying, or what?" Sia screamed from the other side of the cafeteria.

As we both got to our feet, we trudged to the table. We got into the first seats we could find. We both turned scarlet when we realized we were sitting next to our respective "girlfriends." (Lise's words, not mine.)

[Oh, you _know_ they're true, Nico.]

**New York was sitting across us, a stupid grin on his face. He must have heard Lise.**

**"Sooo...do you guys have anything to say?" he said.**

**I froze up, and slowly, painfully, and mechanically, I turned to Jonesy. "I, uh...I..." **

**She narrowed her eyes. "What? Spit it out."**

**"Will...you...g-go...o-out..."**

**Jonesy raised an eyebrow. "Go out? When? I'm pretty sure we are snowed in right now."**

**This sort of snapped me back to reality. "What, what?" I asked.**

**Jonesy pointed out the window. Snow was piled in front of it.**

**"Uh...oh." I became silent, and then turned to Seamus, and nudged him. "Dude," I whispered.**

**He shushed me. "Trust me, I know what I'm doing." He turned to Sia. "Date me, I'm Irish."**

**Sia looked at him with interest. "Date you? Okay, what to go get some coffee...?"**

**They walked away, arms linked, leaving me and Jonesy. No freaking way...**

**"Who put you up to this?" Jonesy asked.**

**"Uh...Lise...for a bottle of milk."**

**She just stared. "Uh...no. I'll have to decline. You know, if you date me, everyone will think I'm gay. Which I'm not."**

**"Oh, yeah..." I said. I kind of forgot about that part; anyone who saw us on a date would think that. **

**New York snickered. "Ah, young love!"**

**Jonesy growled at him."Ehehehehehe...oh."**

**Seamus returned with Sia. He turned to me. "We need to exact revenge on Lise, somehow."**

**I nodded. "How about we tell Jean about her crush?"**

**Seamus nodded. "Agreed."**

Almost as if God were smiling down at us, Jean chose this moment to go sit at our table. "_Bonjour_," he said, as he passed Seamus and me some cups of hot chocolate.

He saw us staring at the cups with obvious distrust. "Don't worry; Mexico promised to stop using peppers. Drink it; it's good."

Seamus and I took nervous looks at each other, and brought the cups to our lips. After a few seconds, we took another sip. Hrm. Pretty good.

Anyway, Lise quickly looked from her conversation with Gabriella and Jackie to Jean. Her face flushed, and she murmured something to the girls. She got up out of her seat, and sat next to Jean.

"Hi, there!" she exclaimed.

I shook my head. Pathetic.** Now what could I do to get my revenge...My mind drew a blank.**

**I turned to Seamus. "I think revenge on her can come later," I whispered.**

**He nodded. "Agreed."**

* * *

><p><strong>It turned out that we were <strong>_**really**_** snowed in. Almost everyone was stuck in the North America dorm. But at least we had food. Mexico seemed to have an endless supply of hot chocolate...and to a lesser extent, hot peppers.**

**We spent the next few days lazing around and watching Christmas specials. But since the North America dorm was not used to so many people, there was a surplus of beds to sleep in.**

**After a couple of days, we were all feeling some sort of cabin fever. New York soon went into a vegetative state in front of a TV, and at some point in time, Seamus crawled under a blanket and refused to come out.**

**One day , early in the morning, watching the news, I realized something. I was watching a news story on riots in Austria.**

**"And in the latest news, there have been small riots in Austria, probably spurred by the pacifism movement that is sweeping the world.** But, again, the riots have been small, and no one has been hurt."

"Duh," Jonesy scoffed. "Of course no one was hurt. It's a bloody _pacifism_ movement." She turned to me. "Nico, change the channel."

Just as I was about to grab the remote a voice shrieked behind me, "No! That's _mein vater's_ country!" I turned, and saw the brown-haired girl who was making out with that France kid on day one. Her eyes were wide with panic, and the beauty mark on her face trembled with her lip.

"Come on, Maria Anna. They're just small riots. It's not like they're overthrowing the government or anything!" Jonesy calmed.

Maria Anna tensed, and whispered, "They _might_," but this went ignored.

We kept the news on for a while, until we saw a segment on the occupiers of Wall Street. ("Poor William," Jonesy hissed sarcastically, as New York said, "Hey! Show some sympathy! They're in _my _bowels!") and a small massacre in Italy. (Lise started blubbering like a baby, and even I was holding my breath at this.) After watching a fifteen-minute documentary on that new island off the coast of France (D'Arc, I think it's called) we saw how useless this was, and started talking.

"Jonesy," I asked, "does watching the news seem weird to you since you know about the human versions of the countries?"

She looked at me for a moment, before saying, "No. But, I suppose it's a matter of perspective. I've known about the countries since I was an infant. You, on the other hand..."

"Yeah," I said, understanding.

**Our chat was quickly stopped when we heard what the news said next.**

**"All these problems aside, merry Christmas, everyone! We're going to sign off early to celebrate the holidays! Bye-bye!" They waved and signed off, changing abruptly to commercials for Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer.**

**Everyone stared at each other in silence. Mexico was the first to speak, I think.**

**"Well, **_**Feliz Navidad,**_** everyone! More hot chocolate! Without peppers this time!" Everyone cheered, and crowded around her. **

**But Seamus, Jonesy and I still sat there. "Uuh...Merry Christmas," she said to me.**

I blushed. "You, too." It actually was a pretty nice moment. Serene, peaceful, all that crap. Until...

"Ooo, Jonesy, is that mistletoe I see?" Sia joked. We looked up. My cousin was dangling the plant of doom over us. "Yo, Maria Anna, Jonesy Kirkland and Ludwig Vargas're under the mistletoe!"

Maria Anna was off like a rocket, grabbing a camera and training it on us.

I turned to Jonesy. "Explanation?"

She sighed, and said, "Maria Anna Edelstein is the daughter of Roderich Edelstein, Austria, and Elizabeta Héderváry, Hungary. She inherited Austria's love of music, and Hungary's love of yaoi."

I turned a deep shade of scarlet. "I-don't-like-him!" I hissed. "Just dangling the mistletoe over us doesn't mean we'll start making out! _I'm straight!"_

But I was cut off as Jonesy pressed a small kiss to my cheek. It was simple, barely a touch of lips against skin, but it was enough to make Maria Anna squeal like an elementary school girl in front of Justin Bieber. She started snapping pictures like no tomorrow.

As I stared at Jonesy in shock, she just shrugged, and said, "You don't know Maria Anna like I do. Just give her what she wants, and she'll go away."

Sia smirked, and dragged Maria Anna away (who started begging for things that I'm too dignified to repeat).

I yelled at Lise (who was telling Gabriella, Jackie, and Isabel about our Christmas mass in St. Patrick's, in New York), "Hey, Lise, make yourself useful and sing for us!"

She glared at me, and hissed, "_What_?"

"You heard me."

She shook her head. "No way. I only sing in church, and only with other people drowning me out."

"Which makes now the perfect time to face your fear! Do it; we're _dying_ of boredom, and a kid's iPod can only get him so far!"

"Too bad!"

We continued bantering back and forth for a while, until Sia sighed, and said, "Nico, stop being so freaking demanding."

"Ha! See, Nico, I told you-"

"And Lise, don't be a coward. Do what your brother wants."

"EHHHHH?"

"She's like Maria Anna, Lise! Give her what she wants, and she'll go away!" said Jonesy. ("Hey!" exclaimed Maria Anna.) "Your singing can't be all _that_ bad, right?"

"I heard that New York compared Lise's singing to Rome!" some nameless kid announced.

Everyone, upon hearing the word, "Rome," immediately began ooing and ahing and begging Lise to sing.

It took Jean to get Lise to crack. He took her face in his hands, and said to her, "I'm sure we'd all like to hear your beautiful voice, _ma cher._"

That got her. She stared blushing and muttering like a fool in Italian. I knew she was about to crack.

That was why I wasn't surprised when Lise squeaked out, "Fine."

A lot of kids cheered (mostly Prussia's) and started shouting out suggestions for what Lise should sing.

She raised a hand, and everyone immediately shut up. With a laugh, she said, "Hey, you forced me to sing; at LEAST let me sing what I want!"

Amused grumbles and complaints followed, but they were quiet, and let Lise sing.

"_What child is this, who laid to rest, on Mary's lap, is sleeping?..."_

Usually, I would tease Lise when she did anything really religious, but when she sang, I forgot about teasing. The music was just too pretty to make fun of.

Yes, I see you blushing, Lise. Don't try to hide it.

Not to mention I wasn't totally heartless. If I made fun of anything other than Lise's singing, she usually got a little bit ticked, I got a few bruises, and everything was okay. But, if I made fun of her singing, she'd start to cry.

[Nico forgot to point out that that was once, I was five, and I stayed up three hours past my bedtime!]

Lise! Give! Me! The! Recorder!

"_Haste! Haste to bring him laud, the babe, the son of Mary._"

I didn't clap (the applause from the other kids was loud enough as is), but I gave Lise a smile and thumbs-up. She grinned at me, curtsied to the other kids, and flitted to a chair, where she pretended to have an odd fascination with the floor.

Maria Anna walked over to Lise and put a hand on her shoulder.

"Come on, none of that!" she said to my sister. "Hey maybe you can sing that when Finland comes here tonight!"

"Finland?" Lise asked.

"Yup! Tino Väinämöinen-Oxenstierna, the nation of Finland! Poor him; he spends all night giving presents to kids around the world, but he still finds time to visit his daughter, and friends' children!"

"He has a daughter?" I asked.

"Yeah, Marit. She's Sweden's daughter, too. Another mpreg baby, like you!"

_Wow, a gay Santa Claus. Now I've seen everything,_ I thought.

"Well, I highly doubt that I will," Lise said. "It took all my courage to do it in front of you, much less in front of a country. Do. Not. Want."

Maria Anna rolled her eyes. "Sure, Lise, whatever you say." The glimmer in her eyes told me that she was probably not up to anything innocent.

I ignored this, **and then heard a thump...thump...thump...Suddenly a blond man carrying a sack burst through the chimney. He was wearing a red-and-white Santa outfit, and a silly grin.**

**"**_**Hei**__**, **__**Hyvää Joulua**_**, everyone!" he merrily yelled. I only realized later that he said, "Hello, Merry Christmas" in Finnish.**

**Everyone had stopped to stare, but at this, everyone in the room surged forward, yelling, "FINLAND!"**

**He laughed as he admistered presents to everyone. "What are you doing up?" he asked. "It's midnight on Christmas!"**

**"We're snowed in!" someone yelled.**

**As I came closer to see him, a gift landed in my hand. I looked up to thank him, but he was already making his way up the chimney.**

**"Merry Christmas, everyone!"**

* * *

><p><strong>AN: TEN. PAGES. THIS CHAPTER TOOK TEN PAGES. Anyway, how do you like the new setup? Again, I wrote the non-bold letters, my co-author did the bold ones. And poor Nico, you have just as much luck with your relationships as your father. xD**

**Let me just say that when Ninjacookie19 wrote the "Date me, I'm Irish" scene, I almost fell out of my bus seat, I was laughing so hard. The kids looked at us funny. xD I am SOO gonna do that when I ask someone for a date, only I'll say, "Date me, I'm Austrian."**


	13. Chapter 13

_**Disclaimer: Sadly, I am not Hidekaz Himaruya, nor am I from Funimation Entertainment. That means I do not own Hetalia.**_

**Somehow, after Finland came, we had all fallen asleep without knowing. This morning, I woke up and saw all the people in the room around me, opening up gifts and laughing.**

**"Look!" said New York. He held up a snow globe with the Empire State Building in it. He began to shake it, and smiled like a little kid.**

**"I got something, too!" shouted Seamus. I looked over and saw he was wearing a green t-shirt that said "Kiss Me, I'm Irish." **

**"And I got this!" said Sia, holding up a mug that said, "I'm awesome!"**

**Jonesy looked over to where I was sitting. "Come on, open up your gift." She handed a long box to me. After opening the box, I found there was a cylinder inside. I opened it, and a piece of paper fell out. I unfolded it.**

**It was a travel poster for Berlin.**

**"I got something like that, too!" Lise yelled. She showed me her poster. It was one for Venice, displaying the waterways, and the architecture.**

**I sat down next to Jonesy. "What did you get?" I asked. **

**She blushed and shook her head. "Uh...sorry, but I can't say right now." She gently mouthed the words, **_**"A dress."**_

**Unfortunately, us sitting close to each other caused Maria Anna to creep closer and closer. Jonesy whipped her head around and looked at her. "Yes, and what did you get, Maria Anna?"**

**"Oh, I got this," she said with a grin. She then picked something up and swung it around ninja-style. She let it land just inches from Sia's nose.**

**"Hit the floor, Prussians!" the horrified albino yelled. "She's got a pan!" Gilbert Jr., Sia, Pria, and Russ (along with a couple of tiny birds) ducked behind a nearby couch.**

**"Oh...but not just ANY frying pan...a titanium alloy frying pan, that can reach speeds of over twenty miles per hour when swinging through the air, with a custom-made handle!" Maria Anna smirked, reading partly from the handle.**

**A small note floated down from the frying pan. I picked it up and started reading. **It was really confusing; it was in Hungarian. Maria Anna looked over at my shoulder, and laughed. "Oh, Anya!" she chuckled.

"What does it say?" I asked. "Who's Anya?"

"Oh, Anya is my mother. Anya is Hungarian for Mom."

"So, the letter...?"

"Oh! It says,

_**Dear Maria Anna, **_

_**Whack Prussia's kids for me.**_

_**Love, Anya.**_

**On the other side, written in a fancy cursive, was a message that was (thankfully) in German.**

_**Dear Maria Anna,**_

_**Are you doing well? Do you like the gift? I wanted to get you piano books (You need to practice more!), but when your mother suggested this, I could not resist the thought of Prussia's demon spawn getting smacked. Used it well.**_

_**Sincerely,  
>Your vater<strong>_

**I turned to Jonesy, who appeared genuinely happy that Sia was being threatened. "Uh...was there any conflict between Prussia and Hungary?...and Austria?"**

**Jonesy stared at me for a second, before laughing out loud, which I took as a yes.**

**I turned, and saw a blonde head. "Hey, Jean!" I yelled. "What did you get?"**

**"Papa is cheap as usual; he got all his kids cheese," he yelled back, "again."**

**Jonesy rolled her eyes. "Of course."**

**Lise then ran over. "Hey, Jonesy!" she yelled. "I just heard a rumor that your jerky brother and Canada are going to visit!"**

_**Oh, great**_**, I thought. **_**Her brother.**_** [Nico's being sarcastic, by the way!]**

**Do they really need to know that, Lise?**

**[You can't exactly **_**hear**_** sarcasm.]**

**Yes, you can, Lise; you're just too gullible to understand it.**

**Anyway, Jonesy immediately got depressed after hearing about her brother and uncle. "Oooh, great..."**

**"Actually," said a small, whispery voice, "I'm already here."**

**I turned around, and asked, "What? Who said that?"**

**Someone tapped my shoulder. I turned around and I saw a man sitting in an armchair by the fireplace, clutching a small bear, which at first I thought was fake (until it began to twitch its nose).**

**The man had dirty blonde hair, and one single curl on the top of his head that bounced as he spoke. A pair of glasses rested on his nose.**

**"Oh," I said. "I didn't notice you."**

**The man sighed, immediately making me think I said the wrong thing. "No one does, really."**

**I looked around, seeing that all the windows were white with the snow blocking the exits. "How did you get in?" I asked.**

**"I came in with Finland. You just didn't notice me." Before I could continue the conversation, Jackie ran from wherever she was initially, and tackled her father.**

**"Daddy!" the ten-year-old yelled, catching him off guard.**

**"Hey, Jackie," he smiled, his eyes shining with love. "You've gotten so big since I last saw you!"**

**Jackie hugged her father, and looked at the small bear he was holding. "You brought Kumakaro, too!"**

**"Who are you?" the bear asked the country, much to my surprise.**

**"I'm Canada," he whispered back.**

**Thankfully, I had seen enough weirdness to not be freaked out by a talking bear. Anyway, Mexico came out of nowhere, and began chatting with him. "We better just catch up and chitchat now; when William comes, it'll just be politics, politics, politics," said Mexico. She sighed. "I miss your brother, Matthew. Even though he loud and obnoxious, at least Alfred was fun to be around.**

**Canada nodded. "Well, at least my nephew's okay...I guess," he murmured.**

**"Hi, Uncle Mattie!" Jonesy said, walking up to her uncle.**

Matthew looked at her tomboyish choice of clothing with a raised eyebrow and a smirk. Jonesy just smiled, and shrugged. Apparently, she had been pretending to be a boy for most of her life.

**"Hello," Canada replied. "So, do you and Jackie live different buildings?"**

**His niece nodded. "Yes, I took Father's dorm."**

It took me a while to figure it out. Apparently, Jonesy was an odd case. Most of the time, a daughter of two different nations would take the dorm of their mother (or carrier, for men). A son would take the dorm of their father. Since Jonesy was a boy in everyone's eyes, she was seen as weird for taking her carrier, Britain's, dorm. Am I making sense here?

[Not really, but just keep moving. It's not important.]

**Canada turned to me after his small conversation with Jonesy. "So...are you the son of Germany and Italy I've been hearing about?"**

**Jonesy and I nodded. "His sister is over there," said Jonesy, pointing to Lise, who was talking to Jean.**

**"Hmm..." said Canada. "You **_**do**_** take after your parents. Was William tough on you?"**

**I nodded. Suddenly, I thought of something. "Why does everyone still call him 'William' instead of America?" I asked.**

**"Well, I guess it's because we all hope my brother will be found someday. We know he's still alive, because the country hasn't been destroyed. William basically just has a temporary job, we hope." He rubbed his forehead. "Come to think of it, before he disappeared there was a pacifism movement similar to the one that's happening now in Austria."**

**Sitting nearby, Maria Anna's eyes went wide in shock. Austria was her father, I remembered.**

**Jackie broke the awkward mournfulness by saying, "Daddy! Do you have any maple syrup you promised me?" She then began to swing her legs up and down (accidentally hitting him in the stomach a few times).**

**Canada smiled at his daughter. "Yeah..I do." He took a bottle out of his jacket.**

**Jackie took it happily. "It's much better than that fake stuff they have in the stores here!" she said.**

**"Who are you?" asked the bear again.**

**"I'm Canada..."**

_**How was that? Yes, this entire chapter was mostly written by Ninjacookie19 (she has her own FF account! Look up Ninja Marshmallow Cookie. She writes stuff for My Little Pony, Cave Story, and Invader Zim!**_

_**Anyway, I want you to help me with something. I'm posting this on a website (Wattpad) where you have the option to pick actors for your character. I mean, actual celebrities. So, I'm asking the members of FF to help me! Who should play the characters? (BTW, please keep age in mind! Lise and Nico are 13, Jonesy's 14, Sia's 15, etc.) I'm considering Lise to be Taylar Hender, or Peyton List. Help!**_

_**Random Fun Fact: Lise (Feliciana Bianca Vargas) and Nico (Ludwig Nico Vargas) were actually named after two Italian-American twins in the Percy Jackson series, Bianca and Nico di Angelo.**_


	14. Chapter 14

From what Canada said, I was positive of these things:

1. America was still out there somewhere.  
>2. William Kirkland had something to do with his dad's disappearance.<br>3. American maple syrup sucked balls compared to the actual Canadian thing.

I chose not to voice the first two conclusions for obvious reasons, involving false hope and false accusations. I didn't mean to say the third one, but after tasting real Canadian maple syrup, how could you _not?_

Anyway, it was a few hours later, about six in the morning. Sia and Seamus were cuddled up on a couch, watching _It's a Wonderful Life_, while Mexico and Isabel played a little kid, whom I realized later to be Isabel's little brother. **Lise and Jean were sitting together too, and Canada was talking to New York. **

**Jonesy sat next to me, with Maria Anna in tow. At first I thought she was there for the yaoi, but really she was talking hurridly to Jonesy about the pacifism revolt whie Jonesy tried to block her out.**

**"Was there really the same revolt? Are you sure? What happened to America? Was it really-"**

**"Please! Really, it's nothing to worry about. Just...whatever," Jonesy cut off.**

**"But-"**

**"Hush! Nothing to worry about," said Jonesy. "Now leave me alone. I feel depressed because my brother is coming." She sighed.**

**"Well, fine then." Maria Anna left to go talk to that French boy she was making out with earlier. **

**"She's still worried about her father?" I asked.**

**"Yeah, pretty much. But really, there's nothing to worry about. It's just a coincidence."**

**I nodded. "I hope so."**

**For the next few days, we sat around, talked, and watched TV.**

We were all jolted out of our daze by a knocking on the door. Jonesy leaped off the couch she was on and dashed to the door.

Everyone gave a gasp of surprise and/or horror at who turned out to be knocking.

"Don't welcome me all at once," William huffed. After hanging his jacket on a coatrack by the door, he waltzed into the room like he owned the place. Then again, maybe he did.

Anyway, Jonesy, her blue eyes piercing and her face cold, glared at her brother. **"Come in," she said, without any emoution, even though he was already inside.**

**"Why are you all in here?" William asked us. Everyone looked back in shocked silence.**

**"Um...they were snowed in," said Canada in a small voice.**

**"Well, they can leave now, can't they?" William said coldly. "The snow has pretty much melted away." He surveyed the room with distaste. About five hundred kids all at the same time hurriedly put on winter coats and ran outside , ready to get out. **

**Lise and I (of course) followed them. We couldn't take another second in here. Jonesy did too, eager to get out. As Lise and I passed where the current embodiment of America stood, I swear he gave us a piercing glare. But it was hard to tell, going by so fast.**

**"Whoa," I said, after I squeezed out the doors.**

**You remember those Antarctica kids playing outside? Well, they had transformed the icy landscape to a veritable winter wonderland. Igloos stood between the buildings, smoke coming out of them. Kids skiied by, dressed in parkas. Out of the corner of my eye, I could swear that I saw someone ice-fishing.**

**"How did-" I began.**

**Seamus stopped me."Number one unnoficcial rule at the Internation Academy...don't question oddities, just accept them."**

**I stared in dumbstruck silence.**

**Suddenly, out of nowhere, DC barreled into us on a sled, knocking Sia into the snow. "I'm sorry," he said, before standing up and brushing himself off. "I have something to discuss with Amer-William about." And as quickly and suddenly as he had come, he had gone.**

**Sia got up from the snow, angry. "That stupid state...city...city-state...UGH! Couldn't watch where he was going!"**

**"Whatever," said Jonesy, stifling a giggle. She must have really enjoyed watching that. She still smirked as we walked into the Euro dorm. It was still to cold to really stay outside.**

**So that's how it was for the next few days. Walking around to the other dorms, exploring the rest of the school, et cetera. Occasionally, while we were on these escapades, we would see America (and avoid him), Canada (and not really talk to/notice him), and Mexico (who would sneak up from behind) walking around campus. They were also in different rooms, discussing different things, or, in Canada's case, chasing a maple-syrup covered bear through the library. I still, to this day, don't even know **_**what **_**that was.**

**[That...I still have nightmares about that.]**

**Lise, not now. And well, I just wandered around, and before I knew it, it was New Year's Eve. Our little "posse" (as Sia started to call it) was up in the Asia dorm visiting Mei, when Sia mentioned it.**

**"New Year's Eve!" she said, bouncing on a bed, and doing a flip."**

**"No," said Mei. "New Year is still a few months away, aru."**

"Well, yeah, the _Chinese_ New Year is," Lise explained. "It's later this January, about a month. But in the West, it's tomorrow. January 1st."

"Does yours last two weeks like Baba's does?"

"Nope!" Sia exclaimed. "Just one night! One awesome, alcohol-filled night!" She smirked at Seamus, and said, "And maybe if Seamus is good, he'll get a kiss at midnight, too!"

Seamus immediately turned the color of the Chinese flag in the orner, and turned away, muttering something along the lines of, "Dear Lord, help me."

Jonesy took a quick glance at Sia, and turned to Mei. "Other than the alcohol, which we wil have _none of_, everything Sia said is true. It only lasts one night, so we make the most of it."

_It's only one night! Let's make the most of it! _The memory nearly knocked me over. Mom used to say that to Lise and me when we got upset on New Year's.

Then it hit me. I spent so much time focusing on the changes and adjustments to the International Academy that I never once thought of Mom and Dad. Lise and I never even got the chance to go to their funeral.

I knew just then what I had to do. "Hey, where's the closest phone?" I asked Jonesy.

Raising an eyebrow, she pointed to one of the empty China dorms. "Over there. Why?"

Before she could finish her question, I slipped to the phone and started punching in numbers.

The familiar ringing filled my ear. I twirled the phone cord with my finger, thinking, _Pick up, pick up._

Finally, I heard it. The bright, sweet-as-syrup voice of Aunt Lucy. "Hello? Who is this?"

"Aunt Lucy? It's Nico."

"Nicky! Oh, my goodness! Why didn't you call sooner? Your sisters are missing you so much!"

It hit me how much Aunt Lucy reminded me of Carlos. "I'm fine, Aunt-"

"Never mind. Do you like your new school? Are they treating you okay? Have you met any new friends?"

"Slow down, Aunt Lucy! I love the Academy. The headmaster's awesome, and I have a boatload of friends!"

"God for you! How's Lise?"

"She's fine. I'll let you talk to her in a sec. How did Mom and Dad's funeral go? I'd like a video, if you have it."

Silence on the other end. "It was just _beautiful, _Nicky. You and Lise would've loved it, and they said the most wonderful things about your parents. I admit, it was nice to say goodbye to y sister one last time."

"How did Joan and Lanie take it?"

"Lanie didn't quite understand what was going on, but Joan just looked at your parents' coffins, and said, 'Goodbye, Mom. Bye, Dad.'"

I thought of that for a few moments, while Aunt Lucy blew her nose. "Do you think it could be because of her hallucinations?"

"Maybe, Nicky. She hasn't had a hallucination since she was little."

Shoving my thoughts out of my head, I murmured into the phone, "Wanna talk to Lise?"

"Sure! Give her the phone!"

Placing the phone on the table, I yelled for Lise. "I got Aunt Lucy on the phone!"

While Lise cheerily chattered to Aunt Lucy, I lingered in the room with Mei, Jean, Seamus, Sia, and Jonesy.

"How'd it go?" Jonesy asked.

"Pretty good," I said. "Aunt Lucy asked how things were going at school. Don't look at me like that; I didn't tell her anything. I asked how Mom and Dad's funeral went."

Things were quiet as my friends thought about how to answer.

"Oh..." Sia said. "So, how'd it go? The funeral, I mean."

"Pretty good. My youngest sister, Lanie, didn't get what was going on. My other sister, Joan, looked at the caskets with eyes meant for people ten times her age. You know, the norm. For Joan and Lanie, at least."

Seamus looked worredly at me. "Your sister, Joan...she's been through a lot, hasn't she?"

I shrugged. "Yeah. I mean, she was found wandering d'Arc when she was about three. She hallucinated she lived for a few hundred years. She even claimed she saw planes overhead during World War 2. She went to therapy before Mom and Dad adopted her."

Silence. Cold, stone-cutting silence. Everyone was looking at me as if I had lobsters crawling out of my ears.

"What?" I asked.

They twitched, as if jerked out of a trance. "Nothing," Jonesy said. "Does she still believe that she lived a long time?"

"She remembers the dementia and hallucinations (she can still describe them pretty well), but she doesn't think it's real anymore. She doesn't remember anything before the hallucninations. She tells us about the woman who raised her before she was found. Called her 'Mother Earth' I remember. The French government asked for Mother Earth's real name, but they got nothing. They way Joan describes them, though, makes me think Mother Earth was a hallucination. She was green, had dragonfly wings, and had fairy servants, apparently."

A sigh went through everyone, as though they had been holding their breaths. Sia smiled. "Yeah, it was probably a hallucination."

"Agreed," Mei said.

We all started going back to normal conversation as we waited for Lise to get off the phone. Except for Jonesy, that is.

Her eyes never left me.


	15. Chapter 15

New Years came soon enough.

Everyone who wanted to celebrate was crammed into the Europe dorm. Music was blaring, Prussia's kids had hung up a disco ball, and people were making total fools of themselves.

Nothing different than the other parties I've been to in my life.

I chose "participate-but-not-participate" if you get what I mean. I was there, but instead of dancing, I just sat there, watching my cousins make total idiots of themselves on the dance floor.

Jean, sitting next to me, was telling me about what New Years usually meant for the Academy.

"Usually, our parents visit sometimes for New Years, but this year they didn't get the chance to with the snow and all," Jean said.

I nodded, and went back to watching New York crowd surfing while chugging Mountain Dew.

"And-_ohonhonhonhonhon-_at midnight, Lise and I will share a kiss! I _do _have a thing for Italian girls..."

As I was about to interject, saying that that was _my twin sister _he was talking about. Before that, though, I was interrupted by New York throwing up Cheetoes all over the floor. Gagging slightly, I turned away. I didn't even _want _to know.

"_Ohonhonhonhonhon_-" laughed Jean, who I guess was daydreaming or something. Annoyed, I looked around the room to see where I could go.

I didn't want to join the now vomit-covered dance floor. (Besides the fact that it was covered in vomit, I didn't like dancing or being in the heart of a party.) I just needed to find a place off to the side where I could talk to someone who wasn't proclaiming he was going to hook up with my sister. I then spotted Jonesy, looking annoyed.

I quickly dashed across the floor, dodged a group of Prussians, stepped over the vomit (which was being picked up by a grumbling janitor) and stepped in front of the table Jonesy was sitting at.

"Hey," I said, doing a small wave. I then felt someone breathing on my neck. I whipped around and found Maria Anna behind me, panting heavily, a demonic look in her eyes.

"Y-yaoi...yaoi..." she murmured.

"GET THE HELL OUT OF HERE!" yelled Jonesy, extremely irritated now.

Maria Anna was taken aback. "Okay, okay!" she said, slinking away.

Jonesy sighed, slumping back in her chair. "Why that girl thinks homosexual love is so much more glorious than heterosexual love, I'll never know. What difference does it make?" she groaned. But she smiled up at me, and said, "And you came to me, why...?"

I shrugged, and sat down next to her. "New York's puking up Cheetos on the dance floor my cousins are making total fools of themselves, and I take much more after _mein vater_ than I thought." I shrugged. "Go figure."

Jonesy smiled. "Yes, Germany has never been one for 'relaxing,' I suppose. All I've ever seen him do is train and read."

I remembered just how much I loved to read. Just one more thing to connect with him, I guess.

Anyway, we were cut off by a newscaster screaming into a microphone. She was in the middle of a place I had only been a gazillion times: Times Square.

"Well, everyone, happy New Year's! Thirty seconds to midnight!"

Jonesy stood straight up, and gave a shriek that left my ears ringing for hours. "SHUT UP, ALREADY!"

Everyone stopped what they were doing, looking at England's daughter in shock. After a few seconds, though, they caught on.

"TWENTY, NINETEEN, EIGHTEEN!" some shrieked. It kept going on and on until "THREE, TWO, ONE! HAPPY NEW YEAR'S!"

Some of the littlest ones out laughed and danced with each other, with the older ones celebrated in their own ways, some more dignified than others.

I looked around the room for my sister, and my heart stopped. Jean had my sister's chin cradled in his hands, his lips just leaving hers.

To be absolutely honest, I _still _don't know what happened to bring that up. All I really know was that day, Jean Bonnefoy and Feliciana Vargas became boyfriend/girlfriend. Ugh. I can still remember the headache I had...

[Aw! Was Nicky-Wicky upset that his sister got her first boyfriend?]

I'm ignoring that, Lise. Anyway, I interrupted their "tender moment" by sneaking up behind Lise and grabbing her by the shoulders. She jumped and gave a shrill shriek that should've cracked several windows.

Once she found out it was me who attacked her, she gave me the evil eye, and the third-finger salute.

Jean and Jonesy flinched at Lise's middle finger, but I burst out laughing. "About time you loosened up, Lise! And I thought you'd be a saint forever!"

Jean sighed, and facepalmed, snaking an arm around Lise's shoulder. He said, "That sounds more like a daughter of Romano than a daughter of Veneziano."

Lise blushed, and said, "This was my first time doing anything obscene."

"And what a miracle it is!" I exclaimed, wrapping an arm around her neck.

"So..." Jean began. "About me and Lise..."

"You can date," I said. But as Jean began to smile and thank, I grabbed him by the collar. "You hurt her, I'll kill you and make it look like an accident."

Dropping him back on the couch, pale and stuttering, I walked upstairs to my dorm.

Entering my room, I ran a finger down the dusty, unused bookshelves. Maybe I should ask to give Aunt Lucy the school's address, whatever that was, so she could send me some books from home.

Anyway, donning a pair of pair of pajama bottoms (yes, I sleep shirtless, okay?) I settled myself in my bed, and closed my eyes.

And was promptly woken by a tinkling noise. I checked the clock: 3:00. I had been asleep three hours.

Anyway, the noise sounded like it was coming from my window. Gravel hit my 3rd story window. Why did someone need gravel to wake me up? They could have just come in through the stairs.

I opened my window, and flinched at the cold wind. Steeling myself, I stuck my head out. "What is it?" I stage-whispered to the ground. "Who is it?"

Someone shouted something that made my jaw drop. "No way! Amy, you were right! How'd you know this was where he was staying?

No way...no freaking way. There was no way they could've found out where we were!

Amy Ronald, Joan's friend, and her brother, Jack, were waiting outside my door. Two. Mortals. Were. In. The. Academy.

"What the hell are you doing here?" I hissed.

"Shh! Is Lise up there with you? Come on! We're here to get you out!" my ex-best friend called. Emphasis on _ex._

"Lise isn't here, she's in another dorm."

"Then get her and come down here!"

"No way! Why are you getting me out of here? How'd you get here?"

Amy gave a tiny cry. "Did they brainwash him, Jack? Why doesn't he want to leave?"

Jack glanced at me. "Well?"  
>"I don't want to leave this school! Go home!"<p>

"But-"

I sighed, placing my hand on my face. "Fine. Come up. I'm on the third floor. Just be quiet."

I didn't need to continue. They were already running up into the Europe dorm. Rolling my eyes, I picked up the phone by my bed.

"DC? Sorry I woke you up. We have mortals here. They'll be in the Germany dorm." I hung up before DC even got the chance to respond.

As soon as I put the phone down, the door opened. In stepped Jack and Amy, dirty and sweating.

Rolling my eyes, I gazed at them. "How did you find us, anyway?" I asked as I began to run a shower for Amy.

"We stowed away in that guy's trunk. We've slept in the bathrooms, and ate from your leftovers."

That stopped me in my tracks. "Wait a second...you've been here for two weeks," I hissed, "and no one knew? Not even me and Lise?"

"Yep!" Jack said. "We were that cool , right?"

"You're both idiots." I grabbed Amy's hand, and led her to the shower. "Come on, Ames, let's get you cleaned up."

I was cut off by a fierce knocking on the door. "Nico!" DC yelled. "Where are the outsiders?"

"In here!" I called, shutting the water off. Ignoring Jack and Amy's look of pure horror, I opened the door to DC. "There they are, Mr. Smith. They were throwing gravel at my window."

DC narrowed his eyes at the two terrified kids. He sighed, and said, "Come with me...I'll have to wake Mr. Lucas. Dammit, why can't kids stay where they belong?"


	16. Chapter 16

**(A/N: Sorry I didn't update; I really have no excuse. Not even writer's block (it was prewritten in a notebook). I was just lazy. Anyway, another friend of mine (with no account; let's just call her G) has helped me with this chapter. Thank you, G! This is also ninjacookie's last contribution to this, as she has outgrown Hetalia. Anyway, enjoy!**

**Warning: Toward the very end, there is a slightly religious moment. If that offends you for some reason, just skip the last few paragraphs.)**

Since they were both extremely filthy, DC insisted that they washed up before they talked.

"What are you, the principal of this or something? You're young," said Amy, before stepping into the bathroom. Jack went to the other.

After they were gone, I turned to DC. "What are going to do with them?" I asked. I feared for their safety, knowing that America was here, and that he would call the shots.

"Simple. Get New York in a half-awake state, give him a talking-to, and send them back to their parents, _**WHERE THEY BELONG.**_" He said the last part with his teeth clenched, scowling. "And hopefully this will sneak right under America's nose; if he finds outsiders here again, he'll cut my pay."

We sat on the couches and waited, while DC and I talked. I mainly asked questions about the Academy. Once Amy and Jack were clean, DC and I led them downstairs. As we passed the Italy dorm, I stopped them.

"Wait a second. Lise needs to know this, too," I slipped into the room with Jack and Amy tailing me. "Lise!" I yelled. "Wake up!"

I opened the closest door to me, and sure enough, there was Lise, fast asleep.

As I struggled to wake Lise up, Amy and Jack were looking around at the Italy dorm. "Wait a sec!" Jack yelled. "Why is this room-"

Thankfully, Lise chose this moment to wake up. Blinking fitfully, she gazed at me, Jack, Amy, and DC for a moment. After realizing what was happening, she shot straight up in her bed. "J-Jack! Amy! You're not supposed to be here!"

Sighing, I facepalmed, and said, "I know that, Lise. We need to take them to Mr. Lucas so he can get this settled."

"Who's Mr. Lucas?" Jack asked anxiously.

"He's the headmaster," DC explained.

"Y-you mean you're not?" Amy wheezed.

"I do most of his jobs, but no. I just work for the school. Urgh, _hurry up,_ Feliciana!"

"I'm going as fast as I can, Mr. Smith!" Lise shouted from th ebathroom. A few seconds later, she came out wearing the only proper clothes she had: her Italy uniform.

"Alright, I'm ready," she exclaimed. "Let's go." She gazed at me for a second. "...after Nico puts a shirt on!"

"No time," I said. "William could find out, and who knows what'll happen if he finds two outsiders here."

"Who's William?" Amy hissed. "What's going on?"

"William is my half-brother," DC explained. "and trust me, you do _not _want to get on his bad side."

Amy and Jack both gave nervous gulps.

We all left the room and snuck out of the building. I winced as snow and gravel dug into my bare feet.

All of a sudden, Lise hissed, "_Hide!_" DC pushed Jack, Amy, Lise, and me into a bush as footsteps grew near.

"Evening, William," he said coolly to his brother. "What are you doing out here at this hour?"

"I should ask the same thing, Collin."

"One of the students got sick," DC lied. "I was escorting him to the infirmary."

"Oh?" America asked, feigning curiosity. "Who?"

"The new boy, Ludwig Vargas. Feliciano's son, remember him?" DC never lost his poker face. Man, this guy rocked at lying! Well, he _was _Washington DC...

I also had to give him credit with keeping the secret of the nations from Jack and Amy without gaining America's suspicion.

"Ugh, I remember him. Honestly, Collin, why did you allow him in? We're scarcely funded with the students we have. We can barely afford more."

"Says the man who killed Sakura Honda in cold blood."

Lise gave a loud gasp, which I covered her mouth quickly. I gave a terrified Jack and Amy a look that said, _Don't say anything._

"I have nothing to say to that. She was an Axisling. They need to be treated as such."

Lise was now trembling in fear. Tears dripped from her cheeks. It only got worse when America said, "I plan to do the same with the German-Italian twins."

"WILLIAM! They're only thirteen years old! They're children! They're-"

"-bastards who were born fifty years too early. If Italy and Germany wanted children, they would have waited until 2045, like they should have. They can always have another child when they are allowed."

With that said, he turned and stormed off, leaving a stunned DC behind.

DC knelt down and whispered to us, "The coast's clear. Come out."

We sat there, with Lise still blubbering like a baby (though frankly, I could see why).

Jack said, "What did he mean, Germany and Italy having a child? Can countries mate and produce little islands or something?" He thought on this for a bit. "Now maps just look like porno."

"Jack, what's porno?" Amy asked innocently.

"N-nothing!" he exclaimed quickly.

DC, "Collin," sighed. "It's umm...not like that...my brother is just sort of...it's hard to explain. No more questions."

"But-" Amy started.

"Amy," I said, "please, not now."

"Come out," DC repeated. "We need to get you to Mr. Lucas. These children can't be involved in this. If they knew you and your sister, they're in danger, too."

I nodded. "Get up, Lise; we have to go."

"NO!" Lise shrieked into her knees. My twin sister was huddled in the fetal position, her arms wrapped around her legs, and her eye sockets pressed against her knees. "Leave me alone! I don't wanna die, Nico! I don't want to die!" I couldn't tell what she was speaking: English, Italian, heck, I wouldn't know if she was speaking rapid-fire German.

"Lise..." I began, putting a hand on her shoulder, "Lise, I won't let them hurt you. _Du bust meine Schwester, und Ich liebe dich._"

She turned wide, tearstained eyes to me. "_Ti...ti amo, fratello," _she whispered.

I held out a hand to hers, and she took it, clenching my fingers like a lifeline.

"This is all very touching and whatnot," DC hissed, "but we have to GO! NOW!"

Locking gazes, Lise adn I jumped up, heading out the bush.

"Three..." I hissed, "two...ONE!" We all made a mad dash for the orphanage.

It must've only been somewhere between a few seconds and a minute, but that sprint felt like hours, with all the thoughts going through my head.

_William _killed Sakura? Just because she was an Axisling...? And the way he talked about her, like she was nothing more than a rabid dog to put down.

What was the most terrible of all was that he planned to do the same to Lise and me. I know I promised Lise that she wouldn't get hurt, but now I saw it as what that was: an empty promise to coax her out of hiding.

Don't get me wrong; I would never just watch if we were in danger. If I was going to die, I'd do it kicking and screaming. But, I don't know if I could protect Lise.

It was almost embarrassing. I, Ludwig N. Vargas, son of the nation of Germany, was terrified.

My thoughts were cut off when my bare feet hit wood, instead of snow.

DC sat Jack and Amy in two chairs by a fireplace. "Stay here," he ordered them. I'm going to get the headmaster, and then you can go home. Okay?"

"We're not babies!" Amy snapped. She looked at DC, who eyed her in a way that said, "_I know you're lying. Give it up._"

"Okay," she said.

DC stormed into the hallway where Lise and I slept on our first night. He knocked on the door that lead to New York's dorm.

"New York!" he hissed. The door silently creaked open, and DC walked in to find New York, sleeping in his bed, babbling on about Twinkies.

"New York!" DC hissed, whacking him upside the head.

"WHAT THE...!" New York sputtered.

DC covered New York's mouth with his hand before he could finish his sentence.

"Two mortals are here. We have to get them out, before William finds out. I barely slipped past him once," DC hissed.

New York seemed to understand even though he was half asleep. He reluctantly treaded down the hallway.

"Can you _just _explain it to us!" sighed Amy as we waited for New York to come.

"I told you already, we don't have any time," I snapped. "You guys can't come back. You promise?" I gazed at them seriously.

"Yeah, whatever," Amy sighed, rolling her eyes as if I were a teacher she hated.

"Don't expect _us _to break you out when you're sick of this place," Jack muttered.

Thankfully, at that moment we saw New York staggering down the hallway, muttering about the stupidity of kids these days.

Amy and Jack's eyes bulged, but then relaxed when they realized he was half asleep.

"Come on, kids. You gotta go home," he mumbled, stifling a yawn.

We made our way to the door we entered through outside, when suddenly we saw a figure heading towards us.

William.

We dashed across the snowy plane, New York trudging behind. We ran to the back of the orphanage to where New York's car was parked. I turned around so fast I think I heard my neck crack. William was advancing.

"Go!" hissed DC, shoving Lise, Amy, Jack, and me into New York's car.

"But..." Lise sniffled, and I covered her mouth with my hand again.

We all were hiding under the car seats. I peered up at the window to get a glance at William.

"Hello, William," New York gulped. DC slightly elbowed him.

William's eyebrows raised in curiosity. "Well, well, it seems I have the pleasure of seeing _you _again, Collin." He said "you" as if it were a pile of roadkill that came up to him instead of his surrogate brother, DC.

New York gulped silently and gripped his pajama bottoms.

"What is he going to do?" Lise whispered to me, tears forming in her eyes.

"I don't know..." I started to whisper back, but the sound of William's voice cut me off.

"I'll let you off with a warning _this _time, Collin. Next time, I won't be so nice."

I was confused. Why did he spare us? Questions were swimming through my mind after William left and DC pulled us out of the car.

"W...why did he let us go?" Lise stammered, cautiously looking around for any sign of William.

"I think he plans to do something worse," sighed William.

I peered over at Amy and Jack emerging from the backseat of the car, whispering nervously.

"What is it?" I asked.

"We..." Amy started.

"...We want to go home," finished Jack.

New York hopped into the car, and Jack and Amy went back in.

"See ya, Jack! See ya, Amy!" Lise called, DC urging us to keep walking.

I looked back to see New York pulling his car out of its parking space, and a terrified Jack and Amy waving goodbye.

~o~o~o~o~

"You two better keep your moths shut about what you heard, okay?" DC hissed, his eyebrows knit together. Lise and I nodded.

"Good. Now, go back to your dorms," he snapped, walking away.

Lise gave me a terrified look. "We're gonna be okay, Nico, right?" She looked like a little abandoned puppy.

"Yeah, we're gonna be okay," I lied.

Her face turned more stern now. "Really?" she asked, her eyebrows raised.

I sighed. "Honestly, I don't know, Lise."

Disappointment melted across her face. "Well, goodnight, then."

"Goodnight." I started to head back to my dorm, when something hit me. I turned around, and wrapped my arms around Lise in an embrace. "It's going to be okay," I muttered, releasing her.

"What's that Bible verse you like so much..._'Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for You are with me._' Remember that, okay?"

Honestly, I considered myself an agnostic in contrast to my sister' s strong belief in a higher power. I found no proof there _was_ a God, so that didn't make me Christian, but I didn't find proof that a God _didn't_ exist, either.

That didn't mean I couldn't comfort my sister using it, though.

She weakly smiled. "Thanks, Nico."

We made our way back to our dorms.

**(A/N: Except for the Bible verse section, which I added in, everything after "He knocked on the door that led to New York's room" was written by G. How is she? Voice your opinions here!**

**Notes:**

_**Du bist meine Schwester, und Ich liebe dich- **_**(German) - You're my sister, and I love you.**

_**Ti amo, fratello**_** - (Italian) - I love you, brother.**

_**Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for You are with me. - **_**Tiny section of Psalm 23 of the Bible. One of my favorite sections of the Bible. (In case you're wondering, I'm like I'm going to write Lise: a deeply religious Catholic.)**


	17. Chapter 17

As the days passed, Lise and I pushed Amy and Jack out of our minds. We spent time with our cousins, Seamus, Carlos, Mei, Jonesy, and everyone else.

We just barely thought of school. I came back to my dorm from dinner one night to find a pile of notebook paper, binders, notebooks, pens, pencils, and textbooks. With them was a scribbled note, saying,

_**Dear Nico,  
>Hope you'll have a good rest of the school year! Don't let work get to you; have some fun!<br>-New York**_

I slammed my hand into my face. School! I had completely forgotten!

Thinking this made me feel completely stupid afterwards. Of course I would have school. I was being housed and fed in the International _Academy._

My eyes widened when I saw another "gift" from New York: a laptop computer. An honest-to-goodness Toshiba laptop.

Opening it quickly, I turned it on and browsed through. Google Chrome, good. Microsoft Word, Powerpoint, and Excel, very good. Window's Movie Maker, even better.

Smiling, I shut the computer and picked up my history textbook. The cover was nothing extraordinary. Just a picture of a globe, a few 18th-century maps, and in big, black letters, "HISTORY, GRADE 7."

Smirking, I flipped open the book, and came face-to-face with a man who looked just like me. I gasped as I looked at him. The same brown hair, the same shape eyes, the same smirk. The only differences (other than age) seemed to be that his eyes were brown, while mine were blue. His hair was curly, while mine was straight. If he were younger, or I was older, we could've been fraternal twins.

Looking down at the picture's caption, I read, "_Roman Empire (Ancient Rome), the grandfather to the Italy brothers, he was the strongest nation in the world but withered and eventually died. He enjoyed battling, drinking, and cavorting with women, and was not fond of talking about politics or serious matters._" (**A/N: Yes, I took that from Hetalia wiki.)**

Gazing down at him, I smirked at his picture. Sure, he looked like me, but his work ethic reminded me of Lise. It hit me that this man(if he really _was _the Italys' grandfather) was Lise's and my great-grandfather.

Taking note of and memorizing the page number, I flipped to another page at random. What I came to almost made me break down laughing. Attached to the page was a painting of many familiar faces.

Painted in a garden, it could have been any family, if I didn't recognize them. A spectacled man and a caramel-haired woman were standing together, holding hands. Next to them were two children, baby fat still clinging to their cheeks. One of the children was unfamiliar, though he reminded me greatly of my father, Germany. The other I recognized immediately, It was my mother, only he was _in a dress._ Sweet smiles graced their faces_,_ as if nothing was wrong with the world.

"_Frankfurt am Maim, Holy Roman Empire,_" the caption read. "_12 June, 1400. Left to right, Italino, Austria, Hungary, Holy Roman Empire._"

I gazed at the pictures. "Italino." If you ignored that it wasn't an actual word in Italian, and translated it through suffixes and root words, it would translate roughly into "Little Italy." So, my mother was a child. Heh. How about that.

Taking out my sketchbook, I studied the face of that Holy Roman Empire kid, the one that reminded me so much of my biological father. I was just starting to sketch out his face in my book when I heard an intense knocking on my door.

"NICO! NICO, OPEN UP! YOU WOULDN'T _BELIEVE _WHAT I GOT!"

Smirking, I called, "Come in, Lise."


	18. Chapter 18

The next day, I was standing with twenty other nationlings outside our first-period class on the first day of school. My bag was slung over my shoulder, weighing me down with all the textbooks. I pressed my forehead to the cool painted bricks of the wall, and sighed. So, here we go again. We'd be sitting in similar-but-different classrooms, listening to similar-but-different teachers, reading similar-but-different textbooks.

Scratch that. Everything was different.

Our teachers were states and government workers. Our school wasn't supposed to exist. We were children who just happened to be missing one or both parents on our files, as if we were generated spontaneously from Earth itself.

I jumped when I felt someone tapping on my shoulder. Whipping around, I came face-to-face with Jonesy, who was dressed in a red, white, and blue boy's uniform.

"Alright," she said, "I'll give you the information for this class. This woman's name is Miss Bell. She used to be a schoolteacher in Florida before she was offered the job here. She's been working here for ten years. If asked who you are, just say your name, and your parents."

"What does she teach?" I asked.

"Maths," Jonesy said. "I have her fourth period. Do you have her that time, too?"

"No," I said. "I have...Jackson," I read from my schedule.

Shrugging, Jonesy looked at me. "Come on, smile! School here isn't so hard; can't be as bad as the school you had in New York City."

Rolling my eyes, I murmured, "One: this chool was all you've ever known, Jonesy. You said it yourself; you were four when you came here. Have you ever left?" I bit my lip and stared at her.

"Wh-what?!"

"You heard me. Have you, in the ten years you have lived here, ever left?"

"N...no, I suppose. But, it was for my own protection, with my dad being gone and everything..."

"That has nothing to do with this. Two: your dad _started _this school. Everyone _adores _him, you know that. Your brother was one of the first nationlings to ever be born."

"How the bloody hell do you-?"

"I do my research. Anyway, you don't know what it's like, to be ridiculed just because you were born fifty years too early. Because you were made by the wrong people. And now, your brother wants to freaking _kill _me and Lise for-"

"_WHAT?!" _Jonesy screeched, stopping for a second to lower her voice in both volume and pitch. "What the hell are you talking about?!"

Hesitating for a moment, I started whispering, "A few nights ago-"

I was cut off by the screech of the school bell that obviously hadn't been changed in fifty years. All the students began to file into their classrooms, with Jonesy clearly having a mental battle of whether to be late for class and hear my story, or to wait and be on time.

Choosing for her, I forced a grin. "See ya later, Jonesy. I'll talk to you after school."

Hesitating, she nodded. "Alright. See you." She turned and dashed toward her own class.

I watched her leave until I heard a voice. "Young man? Would you _please _stop staring at that boy and come sit down?"

Blushing furiously, I dashed into the room, snagging a seat by a daughter of Finland (Marit, was it?). Some kids' skickers reached by ears, which I tried to ignore.

"Young man, I don't believe I've met you. Who are you?" Miss Bell asked. She was an older woman, maybe sixty or sixty-five years old. Her lips were scrunched together, like she was sucking on a lemon. Needless to say, it came as no surprise that she was _Miss _Bell.

I was cut from my thoughts with more giggling and a sharp "_Well?_" from the teacher.

"Um, my name's Nico, ma'am."

"Full name, sir."

"L-Ludwig Nico Vargas, ma'am. I used to be Stoker."

Smirking, Miss Bell examined my black, red, and yellow uniform. "A son of Germany, I assume?"

"Yes, ma'am..."

"Ah...an Axisling. Who's your mother? Wait, that probably isn't the right word...Who gave birth to you?"

Swallowing down my rage at the "Axisling" comment, I choked out, "F-Feliciano Vargas, ma'am. North Italy."

Her grin became twice as wide. "Oh, a _double _Axisling, is it? Where did you live?"

"New York. I was adopted by a human family."

Miss Bell lauged. "Dumped their kids at an adoption agency to avoid their responsiblities, eh?" Gazing at me, she waved her hand at me. "Sit down. We will beigin with that we started before winter break. Marit, would you please..."

I ducked down in my seat, ignoring the giggles (and in some cases, laughs) as Marit Väinämöinen-Oxenstierna answered her question.

I sighed. This was gonna be a _long _year.


	19. Chapter 19

[Alright, alright, it's my turn!]

Lise, what are you doing?!

[I don't think whoever's listening wants to just hear you whine about being bullied.]

But, Lise, the status of Axislings is—

[-taboo, I know. Everyone knows that, Nico. And remember, things started to go bad when I was there.]

Okay, I'll tell your experiences—

[No, I want to tell it. I saw it, I tell it. Now, give me the recorder.]

Lise-! Let go!

[No! _You _let go, Nico!]

[Agh! Lise-]

Hi, everyone! Just in case you've forgotten me, my name's Feliciana Bianca Stoker Vargas! I'm Nico's twin sister!

Okay, I'm sorry Nico had a bad first period of school. No one deserves to be treated like that.

[You were treated like that, too!]

I know, silly! I just ignored it, like everyone's _supposed _to!

[Lise, it's not that simple—]

Anyway, my school day was pretty uneventful, up until I had music class.

Frau Gruber (an Austrian) was going on about scales, or something like that. As I had gone through this lesson in New York City, and already knew this, I was occupying my time in my own personal way.

[So, you were sleeping.]

I'll ignore that cuz I love you, _fratello. _Anyway, I was jolted out of my thoughts—

[Sleep.]

—when Frau Gruber spoke up.

"Today, we have a very special guest. You should be grateful he's taken time out of his busy schedule to speak with you. For those of us who haven't met him before, let me introduce my nation, _Herr_ Roderich Edelstein, the nation of Austria."

Polite applause filled the room, which I joined in on. A man entered the room and bowed politely. A pair of frameless glasses rested on his nose, with a tiny mole near his lip. His dark hair stuck up in one place.

So, basically, he was a male, purple-eyed close of Maria Anna.

I watched as this _Herr_ Edelstein thanked Frau Gruber and started his lecture on the makeup and history of the piano or something like that. Like the dutiful little student I was, I took notes on the reason the piano was considered a percussion instrument, the placement of the fingers, and a copy of an octave on the piano, complete with the letters on the keys.

As I did that, I bit back a curse as my lead slipped out of my pencil. Getting up to sharpen my pencil, I made my way across the room.

"_Fräulein_ Vargas!"

I stopped dead in my tracks like a deer in the headlights.

"Y…yes, ma'am?" I stammered. The whole class was now staring at me. _Herr _Edelstein had stopped speaking and was staring right at me.

_Frau _Gruber gave me a harsh stare, basically drilling a hole through my head with her eyes.

"_Fräulein_ Vargas, why on _earth_," _Frau _Gruber hissed through gritted teeth, "are you out of your seat?"

Gulping, I licked my lips. "I was getting my pencil sharpened. I was listening; I took notes and everything." I looked up at _Herr _Austria, and whispered, "I'm sorry…"

Looking up at him, I saw…something…pass through his eyes. Just for a split second. Pity, maybe, or reassurance. Just as quickly, though, it passed.

_Herr_ Austria sighed in exasperation. "As long as it doesn't happen again." I started to make my way back to my seat, mentally preparing myself for memorizing the rest of the lesson. A gloved hand touched my shoulder. "No, no. Sharpen your pencil. You've gone through enough for it. You might as well."

I looked at him, and smiled. Now that I saw him in a bit brighter mood (though well-hidden), I saw a bit of kind, sweet Maria Anna in him. Just a bit. "_Danke_," I said. I walked to the sharpener, sharpened my pencil, and sat down.

Jackie was staring at me, her eyes wide. She mouthed at me, "_Talk to me after class._"

I nodded and went back to the lesson.

~o~o~o~o~

After class, Jackie pulled me over. "You're _so lucky_!" she exclaimed. "You actually got Austria not to punish you! That almost never happens!"

"You serious?" I asked.

The ten-year-old nodded vigorously. "They say that he was the Evil Stepmother in the Cinderella story of your dad, Italy. Always made him do chores, and stuff like that."

I giggled at the thought of it. "Yeah, Nico found a picture of them in the 7th grade history textbook. Did Austria really make him wear a dress?"

"Yeah, he did!" Jackie snickered. "It was _totally _justified, though. Italy was so tiny, and his voice was so high, that it was pretty easy for everyone to think he was a girl."

"_Waitwaitwait_," I said. "They thought he was a _girl_?"

"Yeah! No one really knew until his voice cra—"

"_GIRLS!_ Get to your class!"

"S-sorry, DC!" I choked out. Jackie was already running.


	20. Author's NoteLast Chapter

**Hello, readers!**

**Wow, this has been a long time! I'm sorry I never got to finish it, and that I stopped writing, but I faced a great deal of writer's block and pressures in the real world, forcing me to take a hiatus. A very, very long hiatus. **

**Anyway, I'm sorry I haven't updated in a while, but fear no more: I've regained interest in **_**When One Door Closes**_**! I've decided to restart the story in a little bit under the name **_**Changelings**_** from the beginning, now that I've gotten better at writing. It won't be long until the story comes back up; I've already gotten the first chapter written out. I hope you enjoy it when I get around to posting it.**

**Thank you,**

**Aquaqua :)**


End file.
